. The Audubon magazine . disappear,and existing society disintegrate intotribes which would sink to a very low level,from which they would again emerge toachieve a civilization comparable with thatof the Incas of Peru at the date of theSpanish invasion. Yes! it is a big debt that man owes tothe domesticated animals! and especiallyto the ox, and if we could only justly esti-mate the extent of the obligation, we shouldsee that it was not without good reason though the sowing of rice may have ori-ginated with broadcast sowings over areasliable to inundations, the tilling of the soilcommenced by d
. The Audubon magazine . disappear,and existing society disintegrate intotribes which would sink to a very low level,from which they would again emerge toachieve a civilization comparable with thatof the Incas of Peru at the date of theSpanish invasion. Yes! it is a big debt that man owes tothe domesticated animals! and especiallyto the ox, and if we could only justly esti-mate the extent of the obligation, we shouldsee that it was not without good reason though the sowing of rice may have ori-ginated with broadcast sowings over areasliable to inundations, the tilling of the soilcommenced by dropping each grain separ-ately in a little hole made with a stick,from which an advance was made to thepick-shaped branch as a more effectiveimplement, which may have been in usefor centuries before it suggested itself taany one to take a much larger branch anddrag it through the soil by means of may be said to rest on thepractical application of this idea, for aslong as man was dependent for his crops. A PRIMITIVE PLOW. that the ancient Egyptians elevated thebull to the rank of a divinity, and thatthe Hindoos regarded the slaughter ofan ox as an offense heinous as that ofmurder. The plowing of the earliest agricul-tural people was with very rude imple-ments. The Hindoo plow of to-day hasretained its primitive form; the Egyptianis not appreciably modified; the same sim-ple primitive plow may even still be seenin some parts of Germany, and a very littlestudy of it will suffice to show that both itand the pick originated in the branch of atree trimmed of all its secondary branchesbut two spurs which were left, one to pene-trate and loosen the soil, the other to holdand guide it by. There is little room for doubt that al- on the work of his own hands, the laborexacted of him would have been so ex-hausting that there would have been noleisure for devotion to the useful arts, andunder such conditions population couldnever become dense or highly people
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1887
