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Show WORLD OWES DEBT TO WuMAN Fostering of Agriculture Has Been From the Beginning of Time In Female Hands. Agriculture today depends chlelly upon the work of tho primeval woman. Wb are Indebted to the nomad's wife for the greatest of nil economic services. serv-ices. She tamed tho oung of the more tamable animals, gave them to her Bavngo husband, and made of lilm the moro civil herdsman who for ages followed his flocks after the manner man-ner of Jacob and Lot and Job. This fertile wife of the nomad became the wife of farmers, und she made a farmer of her son by placing In his hand tho precious seed of the grains, tho present pres-ent basis of agriculture, the bread of man, and the concentrated food of all our domestic anltmils Where did this ancient mother get thoso precious seeds In many cases we do not know, and cannot evon guess. She found some plant with one or two rich Beeds. planted them, and then generation after generation her descendants picked over their little lit-tle grain patches, selecting seeds to bo preciously preserved from the harvest har-vest festival to the next spring planting festlvnl, which we now call Easter lly this process running on through unknown generations of men, tho plants became so changed by tho artificial application of Darwin's law of selection that now no botnnist dares suggest what plnnt or plants were tho wild forebears of some of the present grains from which tho world today obtains ob-tains Its brend Wo are Indebted to tills cave or tent dwelling woman. Hut shnll we accept her work ns final? Can science do no better than follow along the path she laid out The fnct thnt agricultural ag-ricultural science Is today doing little lit-tle moro than this Is one of the pathetic pa-thetic Illustrations of the Hmallness of our view. Prof. .1. Russell Smith, In Harper's Magazine. |