Agricultural Instruction for Adults in Continental Countries (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Agricultural Instruction for Adults in Continental Countries In most continental countries the majority of the population are engaged in agriculture, and in a number as much as 7 5 per cent depend directly upon farming for their livelihood. It is to be expected, therefore, that where SO large a portion of the population is engaged in this industry special attention would be given by the governments of these countries to the interests of the farming people. In many of them the virgin lands were long ago occupied, and now no new soil is to be had except such as may be wrested from the sea, reclaimed from Swamps, or taken from the desert. Because of this restricted area of cultivated land, it was quite man ifest that unless some means could be devised by which the same soil century after century could be brought to produce crops with unfail ing regularity and in constantly increasing abundance, the country must eventually; become uninhabitable and the State consequently cease to exist, for it is an historic fact that only nomadic tribes can live in a region where agriculture has ceased to be a profitable pursuit. All of this has been so generally understood and appreciated by foreign nations that long ago their governments gave most careful attention to the subject of animal and plant production, with the result that without exception they have reached the conviction that the only solution of the question of improving agriculture sufficiently to enable those who pursue it as a calling to maintain themselves in comfort for all time to come, and also to produce a surplus for use by those engaged in other occupations, lies in the proper education of those who conduct its operations. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.