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AGRICULTURE receives the attention it deserves, the produc- tive power of the soil has largely increased. Even the Atlantic states of the Union, where the system of cultivating the soil without main- taining its fertility by a proper treatment pre- vailed for many years, are not an exception, since the condition of agriculture is rapidly improving in the oldest of them, where this system was earliest begun, and the general average of crops, with the exception of the potato, is increasing from year to year as a more proper culture is introduced and persevered in, the farmer being led to improve his practice by the pressure of an increasing population and constantly rising prices. In New England, for instance, one of the oldest sections, the general average yield of Indian corn per acre has risen to about 35 bushels, while crops of 50 and 60 bushels per acre are not uncommon, and 80 and 100 are sometimes obtained by careful tillage. The situation and soil of New England are not such as to make it what is called a wheat- growing region, and this fact, which farmers were long in understanding, has caused a great decrease in the extent of land devoted to this crop. Indian corn, root crops, and all the va- rieties of fruit suited to temperate latitudes, are found to be more certain and remunerative, and attention is given mainly to them. In the mean time the system of farm management is gradually improving, new implements to facili- tate labor are introduced, and much greater care and economy than formerly in regard to manures everywhere prevail, most farmers hav- ing good barn cellars arranged for its preserva- tion, into which peat and loam are carried in large quantities, and composted from time to time during the winter as absorbents and divi- sors. Societies have been established in all the states, and in most of the counties. In Massachusetts a department of agriculture is organized as a branch of the government, to collect, arrange, and systematize all the latest information on the subject for distribution among the people, and to superintend the de- velopment of the established policy of the state ; and a bureau of agriculture has more recently been established by the national government, in the interior department. In the middle states societies are equally active in efforts to raise the standard of their agriculture, and have adopted a similar liberal policy, and in some, especially New York, a high degree of improve- ment has been reached. The western states are more strictly and exclusively agricultural than any other section of the country. Most of them publish annually, at the expense of their governments, valuable reports on practi- cal agriculture for circulation among the people. Notwithstanding the immense amount already produced, however, the resources of the west have but just begun to be developed as they are destined to be hereafter. The southern states are also large producers of grain, but are mainly devoted to the raising of cotton and sugar, both of which are exported in large AGRIGENTUM 207 quantities. The present condition of practical agriculture in Great Britain has already been alluded to, as worthy of imitation in other coun- tries of similar climate and soil. But the points in which progress is most distinctly seen are the extensive culture and use of root crops, the general system of thorough drainage, the intro- duction and use of new and improved imple- ments of husbandry, and the breeding of stock. The land, unlike that of the United States, where as a general rule the farmer is the owner as well as the cultivator, is held chiefly in large estates, concentrated in the hands of a few in- dividuals, and leased to the tenant farmer, who either tills it himself or sublets it to others. But few, therefore, of the actual tillers of the soil are owners of land. Associated effort has done much to awaken a lively interest in the subject, both among the nobility and the peo- ple. The royal agricultural society, established in 1839, with its ably conducted journal, the Highland agricultural society of Scotland, and the royal society of Ireland, are doing all in their power to develop the agricultural re- sources of the country. Many valuable agri- cultural journals are well supported and widely circulated. In France the tendency for many years has been to the division of landed estates, and comparatively few large holdings exist at the present time. Subdivision of property in the hands of small proprietors without capital prevents the development of practical agricul- ture; and in many of the departments its condition is still rude. The government has its minister of agriculture, and supports agricul- tural schools and veterinary establishments, while the " Journal of Practical Agriculture " and other agricultural periodicals are doing much to improve both the science and the practice of the country. With regard to the division of landed property, the same state of things prevails also in Belgium and Holland as in France, the agriculture of those countries being characterized rather as gardening than farming. The extreme care and economy of manures, and the careful application of liquid manures in these countries, are often referred to as worthy of imitation. In Germany, as already seen, the science of agriculture has been extensively developed, many of the ablest chemists having devoted their lives to this pursuit. Thaer, Schwerz, Koller, St6ckhardt, Liebig, and others, have a world-wide reputa- tion. Here, also, as in most other countries, associated effort is made to advance the condi- tion of agriculture. AGRIGEOTCM (called by the Greeks Acragas; now Girgenti), an ancient Sicilian city, the rival of Syracuse, on a lofty eminence on the S. W. coast. It was settled by a Doric colony from Gela, about 580 B. C. During the 5th century B. C. it attained its highest prosperity, when its population was probably above 200,- 000. The city was celebrated for the beauty of its architecture, both public and private. Its greatest public edifices were the temples of