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The grain to be threshed is cut, brought in from the fields, heaped upon the threshing floor, and a drove of ponies is turned into the enclosure and kept running around and around by a man who stands in the center with a whip. Soon the many hoofs upon the straw shake the grain from the husks; the ponies are let out, and men go in with great flat wooden shovels and with pitchforks, by means of which they toss the straw up into the air. This is done only when the wind is blowing briskly As fast as the straw is thrown into the air, it is carried off by the wind; while the wheat or other grain, separated from the straw and chaff, falls back upon the floor.

The grain is then heaped in piles. Women come bearing great baskets with flaring sides. Filling these with the grain, which still contains a little chaff, they raise the baskets high above their heads, tip them slightly so that a little stream of grain flows in a steady fall, and at the same time gently shake the baskets from side to side. As the grain falls the wind carries away the dirt and chaff and the grain is clear.

It is not easy to decide what should be called the perfection of agriculture. If by perfection we mean ability to raise crops upon a gigantic scale; if we mean the plowing of a field miles in length by means of great steam plows; if we mean the cutting of the fall harvest by means of mammoth reapers, standing side by side and drawn by great tractors, we ourselves have reached the highest point of agriculture in the wheat-fields of the great Northwest.

There is, however, another way of looking at the matter. We might mean by perfection of agriculture the ability to compel each little piece of land to produce its utmost of food for hungry mouths. Our method requires complex machinery, itself a triumph of inventive genius; primitive man uses only the crudest tools. Every piece of work must be judged by its suitability to local conditions and surroundings. If we judge agriculture in this way, we shall find the most perfect although very simple agriculture among the ancient folk of Egypt and among the modern millions of China. For in China we have the greatest yield from the soil; we have every available inch of ground in use; and we have no wild plants, no weeds, but one great kitchen garden.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Who were the first farmers? How did they become so? Name three other ways in which women led the way in civilization.

2. What is meant by "primitive" people? Give examples of primitive people in the past; of primitive people in the present. Have you ever seen any primitive people? Explain.

3. Explain the different steps in the early development of the cultivation of plants. Which was the most difficult?

4. How did agriculture cause people to settle down? How did hunting cause them to move from place to place?

5. Mention ways by which plants have been carried from one part of the world to another.

6. Make a list of the grains and vegetables which you have eaten to-day which originated outside of North America.

7. Describe the farming tools used by primitive peoples. How were harvesting and threshing carried on by them? If possible, bring pictures of primitive tools to class.

8. What is Starr's idea of the "perfection of agriculture"? Does he answer in two ways? Explain.

9. What crop raised in your neighborhood brings the largest returns in money to the acre? Does it require more labor to secure the crop than other products demand? Explain.

10. Reports for volunteers (find material in Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, The World Book, or the references given below):

a. Native plants of North America.

b. Irrigation in ancient Egypt. c. Farming among the Indians.

d. Farming in China or Japan.

e. Dry farming in Utah.

f. Harvesting in colonial times.

ADDITIONAL READINGS. I. "A Japanese Pearl Farm," in Literary Digest, 80 No. 4, pp. 27-28. : 2. "Taming the Wild Blueberry," F. V. Coville, in National Geographic Magazine, 22:137-147. 3. "How the World Is Fed," W. J. Showalter, ibid., 29: 1-110. 4. "The Indians as Farmers," A. H. Sanford, Story of Agriculture in the United States, 1–11. 5. "George Washington — Farmer," ibid., 76–91. 6. "The Story of the Plow," ibid., 136-143. 7. "The Agricultural Revolution," H. Thompson, The Age of Invention, 110-127. 8. "The Woodland Indians," H. C. Hill, in Historical Outlook, 13: 119–123. 9. “Food Supplies in Colonial Days,” W. L. Nida, Following Columbus, 259–266. IO. 'How Agriculture Developed in Early Times," H. P. Fairchild, Elements of Social Science, 42–46.

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HARVEST AND THANKSGIVING

The harvest season has always been looked upon as one of the happiest times of the year. The joy which it brings is revealed in the four poems which follow. The first of these was written by a Greek poet more than two thousand years ago; the next two, by American authors; the fourth, by a Hebrew poet many centuries before the birth of Christ. Which poem do you like the best?

2. THE HARVEST

ARISTOPHANES

Oh, 'tis sweet, when fields are ringing
With the merry cricket's singing,
Oft to mark with curious eye
If the vine-tree's time be nigh:
Here is now the fruit whose birth
Cost a pang to Mother Earth.

Sweet it is, too, to be telling,
How the luscious figs are swelling;
Then to riot without measure
In the rich, nectareous treasure,
While our grateful voices chime, -
Happy season! blessed time.

3. A SONG OF HARVEST

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

Once more the liberal year laughs out
O'er richer stores than gems of gold;
Once more with harvest song and shout
Is nature's boldest triumph told.

Our common mother rests and sings
Like Ruth among her garnered sheaves:
Her lap is full of goodly things,

Her brow is bright with autumn leaves.

Oh, favors old, yet ever new;

Oh, blessings with the sunshine sent! The bounty overruns our due,

The fullness shames our discontent.

We shut our eyes, the bowers bloom on:
We murmur, but the corn ears fill;

We choose the shadow, but the sun
That casts it shines behind us still,

And gives us, with our rugged soil,
The power to make it Eden fair,
And richer fruits to crown our toil,
Than summer-wedded islands bear.

Who murmurs at his lot to-day?

Who scorns his native fruit and bloom,

Or sighs for dainties far away,

Besides the bounteous board of home?

Thank heaven, instead, that freedom's arm
Can change a rocky soil to gold;
That brave and generous lives can warm
A clime with northern ices cold.

And by these altars wreathed with flowers,
And fields with fruits awake again
Thanksgiving for the golden hours,
The earlier and the latter rain.

4. THANKSGIVING

EDWARD EVERETT HALE

Praise God for wheat, so white and sweet, of which to make our bread!

Praise God for yellow corn, with which His waiting world is fed! Praise God for fish and flesh and fowl, He gave to man for food! Praise God for every creature which He made, and called it good!

Praise God for winter's store of ice! Praise God for summer's heat!

Praise God for fruit-tree bearing seed; "to you it is for meat"!
Praise God for all the bounty by which the world is fed!
Praise God His children all, to whom He gives their daily bread!

5. TWENTY-FOURTH PSALM

THE BIBLE

The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

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