| Show WORLD OWES DEBT TO WOMAN I 1 fostering of agriculture has ha been from the beginning of time in female hands hand agriculture today depends chiefly Y upon the work of 0 the primeval woman we are indebted to the nomads wife tor for the greatest of all economic services she tamed the young ot of the nare more tamable animals gave them to her savage husband and made of him the more civil herdsman who tor for ages followed his flocks after the manner of jacob and lot and job this fertile wife of the nomad became the wife of farmers and she made a farmer of her son by placing in his hand the pro pre seed of the grains the present basis of agriculture the bread of man and the concentrated tood food of all our domestic animals where did this ancient mother get these theme precious seeds in many cases we do not know and cannot even guess she found some plant with one or two rich seeds planted them and then generation after generation her descendants picked over their little grain patches selecting seeds to be preciously preserved from the harvest barvest festival catl val to the next spring planting festival which we now call easter by this process running on through unknown generation ot of men the plants became so BO changed by the artificial application of darwin Dar wins Is law ot of selection that now no botanist dares suggest what plant or plants were the w wild 11 d forebears of some of 0 the present grains from which the world today obtains its bread we are indebted to this cave or tent dwelling delling woman but shall we accept her work as final can i science do no better than follow along the path she laid out the fact that agricultural ri science Is today doing lit tle tie more than this Is one of the pathetic illustrations of the smallness of our view prof J russell smith in harpers Ilar pers magazine |
