Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-07

i FUSED IN tne course OF Time TO Yield enough
to support it's occupants, whose attention
was by degrees turned from agriculture to
foragiDg; or in other words, not succeed
ing In raising sufficient food they very
philosophlcally proceeded to pillage ON
their more fortunate neighbors. 1t was
this necessity of procuring food which i'm
PEELED the Romans to their conquests
in Europe. They spread from Italy as
a center, over Spain, France and England.
When they conquered Spain they had Sc
cured the richest and most fertile country
OF Europe, but under their exhaustive
methods of husbandry the soil was soon
stripped of all it's substance, and it has
not even to this day recovered from the
sterile state in which it was left by the
Romans. At one time the population of
Spain was 81, 600, 000-now it is only about
| ii, 900, eco. 1t was once the first power in
| Europe-now it is about fiith-rate one.
The mountains, once covered with extern.
sive forests, were stripped of trees, and it
is this destruction of the forests which
has caused the almost complete cessation
of rain in portions OF Spain. Holland and
Belgium have always had better system
of agriculture than most other countries
of Europe. They both had great difficulty
| in maintaining their existence as nations,
and this common danger once overcome,
seemed to instill in the minds of the in
babitants love for their country and
Discrimination to emigrate As conse-
quence, the population became dense, and
as they were not disposed to go cut and
conquer other countries they had resort
to improved methods OF agriculture. With
the Chinese and Moslens it is religious
duty for them to return to the soil all they
take from it.
The Chinese are, perhaps, the most fru-
gal of all modern nations. What was
once forced on them by their governors and
religious belief has now become almost
force of habit with them. In these pro-
visions for the maintenance Of the fertllity
of the SOIL We see the wise foresight of
Confucius and Mohammed It is but COM
paratively recently that the English have
paid much attention to economic agricult-
ure. IL was not till the year 1928 that the
first work on agriculture was published.
This was the "Boke of Husbandrie," by
Sir Anthony Fitzherbert. From all ac-
counts we have of it, it was an exposition
OF the practices Of the agriculturists of
that time, with remarks by the author ap-
proving or condemning them, as he saw fit.
That his ideas were not so crude as his
language seems, is shown by the following
sentence, which is said to have been taken
from his "boke"; ga husbande cannot
thryve by his corne without cattle, nor by
his cattle without corne." In this he ex-
presses a principle of economic farming
which some of our farmers of the
nineteenth century might protitably
initiate. During the next two centuries
we have numerous books after the
same style as Fitzherbert's, but it
was not until early in the eighteenth GEN.
fury that the first original investigations
into the principles of the fertility OF the
soil were made These were credited to
Jethro Thrull, who introduced the horse
rake and seed drill into England. Thrulrs
theory that plants derive their nourish-
ment from imbibing particles of the soil,
led him to adopt practice OF thorough
aud deep cultivation of the soil, so that he
| got improved results even il his theory was.
wrong. Thulps theory was believed and,
| followed by many, as best they could with
| the very meager instruments OF the times,
until attention was called by Anthony
| Young, in about the year 1880, to the true
| sources of plant nourishment. He inves-
| tigated the subject of atmospheric nourish-
ment by chemical elements, and proved
very satisfactorily by experiment that
heterogeneous matter, instead of being In
| furious, as had been previously supposed,
was beneficial to plants. 1t was some
twenty or thirty years later before any real
knowledge was gained of the chemical
qualities of soils and manures. In 1905
| R. w. Dickson published the first scien-
| tific treatise on the subject in England.
This was much improved upon by
Sir Humphrey Davy in course
of lectures delivered to the Board of
Agriculture during the ten years following
the year 1902. About this time we had
| several agricultural societies formed in
| America. During the latter part of his life
Washington took great interest in the fur
therance of the best practices of agricult-
ure. 1t was some years after this before
the masses of the tillers of the soil were
sufficiently educated to enable them to get
much knowledge by a direct intercourse
with books and printed matter. As soon,
however, as this was the case the reports
of these agricultural societies were pub
lished and they added their quota to the
resources of the enterprising and intelli-
gent farmer. From 1920 to the present
time many improvements have been made,
both in the science and the art of agricult-
ure. Through the medium OF the papers
and the Grange the farmers are kept well
informed of the advances made, and it is to
their credit to say that they show more Of
a disposition to inform themselves Of the
experiences and practices of the agricultur-
lists in other sections of the country than
did their forefathers. There is one sub
ject, however, of vital Importance to the
tillers of the soil, and of which the mass of
the farmers have little knowledge. This
| is agricultural chemistry, aud it is SUBJ
iect the principles of which can only be
acquired by careful and patient study, or
by reading intelligently such series of
articles as it is the intention of this paper
to publish for the benefit of the farming
community.