1890 as an illustration, this gave a surplus area in wheat of 11,264,478 acres, of 2,648,404 acres in Indian corn, and of 238,162 acres in oats.
TABLE XXXVI.—Percentage of Crops Exported. Averages for Period1878-1905.
Annual Average.Crop. 1878-1882. 1888-1892. 1894-1896. 1896-1904. 1905.
Wheat 27.84 17.68 15.96 29.9 7.99Indian Corn 4.82 3.49 5.39 6.4 3.66Rye 10.30 .. 12.21 19.5 ..Oats .37 .80 2.22 3.7 ..Barley 1.55 .. 12.96 12.15 ..Potatoes .37 .. .30 0.31 ..Cotton 72.80 66.79 73.60 66.31 61.55
Tables XXXVII. and XXXVIII. give the number, total value and average price of farm animals in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1906.
TABLE XXXVII.—Number and Value of Farm Animals in the United States,1880-1906.
January 1 Horses. Mules.Number. Value. Number. Value.
1880 11,201,800 $613,296,611 1,729,500 $105,948,319 1890 14,213,837 978,516,562 2,331,027 182,394,099 1900 13,537,524 603,696,422 2,086,027 111,717,092 1906 18,718,578 1,510,889,906 3,404,061 334,680,520
Milch Cows. Other Cattle.January 1 Number. Value. Number. Value.
1880 12,027,000 $279,899,420 21,231,000 $341,761,154 1890 15,952,883 352,152,133 36,849,024 560,625,137 1900 16,292,360 514,812,106 27,610,054 689,486,260 1906 19,793,866 582,788,592 47,067,656 746,171,709
Sheep. Swine.January 1 Number. Value. Number. Value.
1880 40,765,900 $90,230,537 34,034,100 $145,781,515 1890 44,336,072 100,659,761 51,602,780 243,418,336 1900 41,883,065 122,665,913 37,079,356 185,472,321 1906 50,631,619 179,056,144 52,102,847 321,802,571
Total Value ofJanuary 1 Farm Animals.
1880 $1,576,917,556 1890 2,418,766,028 1900 2,228,123,134 1906 3,675,389,442
TABLE XXXVIII.—Average Value of Farm Animals in theUnited States on 1st January, 1880-1906.
Milch OtherYear. Horses. Mules. Cows. Cattle. Sheep. Swine.
1880 $54.76 $61.26 $23.27 $16.10 $2.21 $4.28 1890 68.84 78.25 22.14 15.21 2.27 4.72 1900 44.61 53.56 31.60 24.97 2.93 5.00 1906 80.72 98.31 29.44 15.85 3.54 6.18
After the Civil War the number of horses increased and prices declined. In 1893 the number of horses reached 16,206,802 (an increase of over 5,005,002 or 44.6% over the number in 1880), and in 1906, 18,718,578. The average farm price of horses increased from $54.75 in 1880 to $74 in 1884, after which there was a decrease to $31.51 in 1896, followed by rise to $80.72 in 1906. The extension of street-car lines, and the substitution of cable and electric power for that of horses, the use of bicycles and, later, of automobiles, and the improvement of farm-machinery, in which horses are less and less used as power-producers and steam is more common, have been factors in decreasing the demand for these animals. The fluctuation in prices of mules has been parallel to that for horses.
The returns for milch cows show an increase throughout the period 1880-1899 in every year, with the exception of 1895-1899, after which there was a steady rise in numbers. For the first ten years the numbers increase 32.6%, and from 1890 to 1899, 2%. The total value of milch cows increased each year until 1884, then decreased until 1891, with a gradual increase until the end of the period. The farm price of milch cows rose from $23.27 in 1880 to $31.37 in 1884, then fell to $21.40 in 1892, after which there was a steady increase to $31.60 in 1899, and afterwards a slight fall, $29.44 being the average farm value on the 1st of January 1906.
No marked changes in the numbers of sheep have taken place. During the period 1880-1890 there was an increase in numbers amounting to about 8.8%. After 1893 there was a rather steady decrease, with fluctuations amounting to a marked depression after 1894. This industry is very susceptible to adverse influences, and felt keenly a depression in the price of wool. The increase began again in 1898, and in 1903 the figure of 63,964,876 was reached; in 1906 it was 50,631,619,
The numbers and values of swine constantly fluctuate with the movement and value of the Indian corn crops. The returns for 1890 (51,602,780) showed a numerical increase of 51.6% over those of 1880; then followed a steady decrease in numbers down to 1900 (57,079,156), since which time there has been considerable increase, so that in 1906 there were 52,102,847—the maximum excepting 1901, when there were 56,982,142 swine on farms. The movement in values was similar to that in numbers. From $4.28 in 1880, the average farm price of hogs increased steadily to $6.73 in 1885. The lowest figure, $4.15, was reached in 1891, and after numerous fluctuations it became $4.40 in 1899 and $7.78 in 1903; in 1906 it was $6.18.
The total value of farm animals showed a steady increase from 1880 to 1890, with slight variations in 1885 and 1886. Following 1890 there was a steady decrease with the exception of slight increases in 1892 and 1893. In 1880 the total value of farm animals in the United States was $1,576,917,556. In 1890 it had increased to $2,418,766,028, or 53.4%. In 1896 the value had dimished to $1,727,926,084—a decrease of 28.6% from the 1890 values, and an increase of 9.6% over those of 1880. The value in 1906 showed an increase of 133% over that of 1880.
The exports of live stock and its products have increased enormously in recent years, both in quantity and value. This is a especially true of the exportation of beef, cattle and meat products. The exports of cattle increased from 182,750 in 1880 to 331,720 in 1895, or 81 1/2%, and to 567,806 in 1905 or 210% over 1880, and values from $13,340,000 in 1880 to $30,600,000 in 1895, an increase of 129%, and to $40,590,000 in 1905 or 204%. The average value of cattle exported increase from $19 in 1870 to $73 in 1880 and $92 in 1895, decreasing to $71.50 in 1905. Only the best and heaviest cattle are exported, these, of course, commanding a much higher price than the average of the country.
The total value of farm animals exported from the United States has flucuated greatly. On the whole, however, the value increased from $16,000,000 in round numbers in 1880 to $46,500,000 in 1905, or 190%. Table XXXIX. shows the number and value of live animals exported between 1880 and 1905.
TABLE XXXIX.—Number and Value of Farm Animals Exported from theUnited States, 1880-1905.
Yearending30th Horses. Mules.June. Number. Value. Number. Value.
1880 3,060 $675,139 5,198 $532,362 1885 1,947 377,692 1,028 127,580 1890 3,501 680,410 3,544 447,108 1894 5,246 1,108,995 2,063 240,961 1895 13,984 2,209,298 2,515 186,452 1900 16 64,722 7,612,616 43,369 3,919,478 1901 16 82,250 8,873,845 34,405 3,210,267 1902 16 103,020 10,048,046 27,586 2,692,298 1903 34,007 3,152,159 4,294 521,725 1904 42,001 3,189,100 3,658 412,971 1905 34,822 3,175,259 5,826 645,464
Yearending30th Cattle. Sheep.June. Number. Value. Number. Value.
1880 182,756 $13,344,195 209,137 $892,647 1885 135,890 12,906,690 234,509 512,563 1890 394,836 31,261,131 67,521 243,077 1894 359,278 33,461,922 132,370 852,763 1895 331,722 30,603,796 405,748 2,630,686 1900 16 397,286 30,635,153 125,772 733,477 1901 16 459,218 37,566,980 297,925 1,933,000 1902 16 392,884 29,902,212 358,720 1,940,060 1903 402,178 29,848,936 176,961 1,067,860 1904 593,409 42,256,291 301,313 1,954,604 1905 567,806 40,598,048 268,365 1,687,321
Yearending30th Swine.June. Number. Value. Total Value.
1880 83,434 $421,089 $15,865,432 1885 55,025 579,183 14,503,713 1890 91,148 909,042 33,540,768 1894 1,553 14,753 35,659,394 1895 7,130 72,424 35,702,656 1900 16 51,180 394,813 43,295,537 1901 16 22,318 238,465 51,822,557 1902 16 8,368 88,330 44,670,946 1903 4,031 40,923 34,631,603 1904 6,345 53,780 47,866,746 1905 44,495 414,692 46,520,784
Since 1890 there has been a great development in the production of fruit and vegatables. Local market gardens are numerous in the vicinity of all cities, and highly specialized ``truck gardening,'' that is, the growing of early fruits and vegatables for transportation to distant markets where the seasons are later, has made rapid progress in the South Atlantic states. The census reports of 1900 use the potato acreage in these states as an index of the rate of development of truck gardening; the southern potato being largely a truck garden crop. In seven counties of Virginia the increase in acreage from 1889 to 1899 was 100%; in eleven counties of North Carolina, 314%; in five counties of South Carolina, 134%; in nine counties of Georgia, 111%; in six counties of Florida, 309%; in five counties of Alabama, 277%. Irish and sweet potatoes are the most important vegatables raised; the North Central state leading in the production of the former and the South Atlantic states in the production of the latter. The growth of the Irish potato industry is shown by the following table:—
Year. Acreage. Yield (bushels).
1870 1,325,119 114,775,000 1880 1,842,510 167,659,570 1890 2,651,579 148,289,696 1900 2,611,054 210,926,897 1905 2,996,757 260,741,294
The production of sweet potatoes, as reported in census years, was as follows:—
Year. Acreage. Yield (bushels).
1869 .. 21,709,824 1879 444,817 33,378,693 1889 524,588 43,950,261 1899 537,447 42,526,606
The total acreage in vegetables reported in 1899 was 5,758,191 or 2% of the acreage in all crops; the value of the yield was $242,170,148 or 8.3% of the value of all crops.
The value of the fruit crop of 1899 was $131,423,517; the value of orchard fruits was $83,751,840; of grapes, $14,000,937; of small fruits, $25,030,877; of sub-tropical fruits, $8,549,863. The development of fruit-growing during the decade 1889-1899 appears from the following table:-
Yield (bushels).Crop. 1889. 1899.
Apples 143,105,689 175,397,626Apricots 1,001,482 2,642,128Cherries 1,476,719 2,873,499Peaches 36,367,747 15,433,62317Pears 3,064,375 6,625,417Plums and Prunes 2,554,392 8,764,032
In 1899 California contributed 21.5% of the fruit crop; NewYork, 12.1%; Pennsylvania, 7.5%; Ohio, 6.8%; and Michigan 4.5%
Agricultural Education.
The agricultural schools of the United States owe their origin to the movement against the old classical school and in favour of technical education which began in most civilized nations about the middle of the 19th century. A rapidly growing country with great natural resources needed men educated in the sciences and arts of life, and this want was first manifested in the United States by a popular agitation on behalf of agricultural schools. A number of so-called agricultural schools were started between 1850 and 1860 in the eastern and middle states, where the movement made itself most felt, but without trained teachers and suitable methods they accomplished very little. They were only ordinary schools with farms attached. The second constitution of the state of Michigan, adopted in 1850, provided for an agricultural school, and this was the first one established in the United States. The General Assembly of the state of Pennsylvania incorporated the Farmers' High School, now the State College, in 1854. Maryland incorporated her agricultural college in 1856, and Massachusetts chartered a school of agriculture in the same year. The agitation, which finally reached Congress, led to the establishment of the so-called ``land-grant'' or agricultural colleges. The establishment of these colleges was due chiefly to the wisdom and foresight of Justin S. Morrill, who introduced the first bill for their endowment in the House of Representatives on the 14th of December 1857, saw the latest one approved by the president on the 30th of August 1890, and is justly known, therefore, as the father of the American agricultural colleges. The first act for the benefit of these colleges, passed in 1862, was entitled ``An Act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts,'' and granted to each state an amount of land equal to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative in Congress to which the state was entitled at that time. The object of the grant was stated to be ``the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college'' (in each state), ``where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts . . . in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.'' The total number of acres of land granted to the states under this act was 10,320,843, of which by far the greater part is sold. This grant has produced an endowment fund amounting to $12,045,629. The land still unsold in 1905 amounted to 844,164 acres, valued at $4,168,746. The invested land-grant funds yielded these colleges a total annual income of $855,083 in 1905. Including the United States appropriation under a supplementary act of 1890, commonly known as the Second Morrill Act, which now gives each college $25,000 a year, the interest on the land-grant and all other invested funds, all state appropriations and other sources of revenue, these colleges had in 1904-1905 a total income of $11,659,955. Sixty-six institutions had been organized under this act up to 1905, of which sixty-three maintain courses in agriculture; twenty-one are departments of agriculture and engineering in state universities; twenty-seven are separate colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts; and the remainder are organized in various other ways. Separate schools for persons of African descent had been established under this act in sixteen southern states. These colleges take students prepared in the common schools and give them a course of from two to four years in the sciences pertaining to agriculture. Many of them offer short courses, varying from four to twelve weeks in length, in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and dairying, which are largely attended. Agricultural experiment stations are connected with all the colleges, and many of them conduct farmers' institutes, farmers' reading clubs and correspondence classes.
The agricultural experiment stations of the United States grew up in connexion with the agricultural colleges. Several of the colleges early attempted to establish separate departments for research and practical experiments, on the plan of the German stations. The act establishing the Agricultural College of Maryland required it to conduct ``a series of experiments upon the cultivation of cereals and other plants adapted to the latitude and climate of the state of Maryland.'' This was the first suggestion of an experiment station in America, but resulted in little. The first experiment station was established at Middletown, Connecticut, in 1875, partly under state aid, partly through a gift from Orange Judd, partly in connexion with the Sheffield Scientific School, which from 1863 to 1892 was the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts for the state of Connecticut, and partly under control of Wesleyan University, which contributed the use of its chemical laboratory; in 1877 it was removed to New Haven. The state of Connecticut made in 1875 an appropriation of $2800 (and in 1877 $5000 per annum) for this school—the first state appropriation of the kind. The state of North Carolina established, on the 12th of March 1877, an agricultural experiment and fertilizer control station in connexion with its state university. The Cornell University experiment station was organized by that institution in 1879. The New Jersey station was organized in 1880 and the station of the University of Tennessee in 1882. From these beginnings the experiment stations multiplied until, when Congress passed the National (or Hatch) Experiment Station Act in 1887, there were seventeen already in existence. The Hatch Experiment Station Act, so called from the fact that its leading advocate was William Henry Hatch (1833-1896) of Missouri, appropriated $15,000 a year to each agricultural college for the purpose of conducting an agricultural experiment station. The object of the stations was declared to be, ``to conduct original researches or verify experiments on the physiology of plants and animals; the diseases to which they are severally subject, with the remedies for the same; the chemical composition of useful plants at their different stages of growth; the comparative advantages of rotative cropping as pursued under a varying series of crops; the capacity of new plants or trees for acclimation; the analysis of soils and water; the chemical composition of manures, natural or artificial, with experiments designed to test their comparative effects on crops of different kinds; the adaptation and value of grasses and forage plants; the composition and digestibility of the different kinds of food for domestic animals; the scientific and economic questions involved in the production of butter and cheese; and such other re-searches or experiments bearing directly on the agricultural industry of the United States as may in each case be deemed advisable, having due regard to the varying conditions and needs of the respective states or territories.'' The stations were authorized to publish annual reports and also bulletins of progress for free distribution to farmers. The franking privilege was given to these publications. The office of experiment stations, in the Department of Agriculture, was established in 1888 to be the head office and clearing-house of these stations. Agricultural experiment stations are now in operation in all the states and territories, including Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines. Alabama, Hawaii, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York each maintain separate stations, supported wholly or in part by state funds; Louisiana has a station for sugar, and Missouri for fruit experiments. Excluding all branch stations, the total number of experiment stations in the United States is sixty, and of these fifty-five receive the national appropriation. The total income of the stations during 1904 was $1,508,820, of which $720,000 was received from the national government and the remainder was derived from societies, fees for analyses of fertilizers, sale of products, &c. The stations employed 795 persons in the work of administration and re-search; the chief classes being—directors, 71; chemists, 163; agriculturists, 47; agronomists, 41; besides numerous horticulturists, botanists, entomologists, physicists, bacteriologists, dairymen, weather observers and irrigation experts. The stations publish annual reports and bulletins, besides a large number of ``press'' bulletins, which are reproduced in the agricultural and county papers. They act as bureaus of information on all farm questions, and carry on an extensive correspondence covering all conceivable questions. Their mailing lists aggregate half a million names. In addition to the experiment stations there is in nearly every state an officer or a special board whose duty is to look after its agricultural interests. Eighteen states, one territory, Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands have a single official, usually called the Commissioner of Agriculture. Twenty-six states, one territory and Hawaii, have Boards of Agriculture. Information concerning the Agricultural Department of the United States will be found under AGRICULTURE, BOARD OF.
See the articles on the various sorts of crops; also CATTLE,HORSE, PIG, SHEEP, &c.; DAIRY AND DAIRY-FARMING,HORTICULTURE, FRUIT AND FLOWER-FARMING, POULTRY ANDPOULTRY FARMING; SOIL, GRASS AND GRASSLAND, MANURE,DRAINAGE OF LAND, IRRIGATION, SOWING, REAPING,HAY AND HAY MAKING, PLOUGH, HARROW, THRESHING.
LITERATURE.—-Besides the contemporary works cited in the text, see the article ``Agricultural'' in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), and the article ``Agriculture'' in J. A. Parral's Dictionnaire d'Agriculture (1885-1892); R. E. Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming (1888); sections on agriculture by W.J. Corbett, R. E. Prothero and W. E. Bear in Traill's Social England (1901-1904); J. E. T. Rogers, History of Agriculture and Prices in England from 1259 to 1793 (7 vols., 1866-1902); W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce During The Early and Middle Ages (2 vols., 1905 and 1907); D. M`Donald, Agricultural Writers from Sir Walter of Henley to Arthur Young, 1200-1800 (London, 1908); H. Rider Haggard, Rural England, 2 vols. (1902); Encyclopedia of Agriculture, ed. by C. E. Green and D. Young (Edinburgh, 1907-1908); Cyclopaedia of American Agriculture, ed. by L. H. Bailey (New Yorkand London, 1907-1908); W. S. Harwood, The New Earth (New York, 1906); T. B. Collins, The New Agriculture (New York, 1906); Journals of the Royal Agricultural Society of England and other agricultural societies. Amongst general works on practical agriculture the following may be mentioned:—Stephens's Book of the Farm, 5 vols., revised by J. Macdonald (Edinburgh, 1908).; William Fream, Elements of Agriculture (London, 1905); Rural Science Series, ed. by L. H. Bailey (New York and London, 1895, &c.); Morton's Handbooks of the Farm (London); R. Wallace, Farm Livestock of Great Britain (Edinburgh, 1907); Youatt's Complete Grazier, rewritten by W. Fream (London, 1900); E. V. Wilcox, Farm Animals (New York, 1907). (W. Fr.; R. Tr.)
1 Translation by Clement-Mullet (Paris, 1864).
2 Walter of Henley mentions six bushels per acre as a satisfactory crop.
3 This process of enclosure must be distinguished from that of enclosing the arable common fields which, though advocated by Fitzherbert in a passage quoted below, proceeded slowly until the 18th century.
4 During the 16th century wheat had risen in price, and between 1606 and 1618 never fell below 30s. a quarter. At the same time wages remained low.
5 Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 732.
6 The higher yield of wheat in the later years of the 19th century appears to be largely attributable to better grain-growing seasons. The yields in the experimental wheat-field at Rothamsted—where there is no change either of land or of treatment—indicate this. The following figures show the average yields per acre of the selected plots at Rothamsted over six 8-yearly periods from 1852 to 1899, and afford evidence that the higher yield of later years is due to the seasons:—
Bushels (of 60lb) Averages of—- per acre. 8 years 1852-1859 . . . . . . . . 28 3/8 8 years 1860-1867 . . . . . . . . 28 7/8 8 years 1868-1875 . . . . . . . . 27 1/8 8 years 1876-1883 . . . . . . . . 25 1/4 8 years 1884-1891 . . . . . . . . 29 7/8 8 years 1892-1899 . . . . . . . . 30 ————————— ———— 32 years 1852-1883 . . . . . . . . 27 3/8 16 years 1884-1899 . . . . . . . . 30 ————————— ———— 48 years 1852-1899 . . . . . . . . 28 1/4
The average of the first thirty-two years was thus 27 3/8 bushels per acre, of the last sixteen years 30 bushels, and of the whole forty-eight years 28 1/4 bushels.
7 See J.B. Lawes and J.H. Gilbert, Rothamsted Memoirs on Agricultural Chemistry and Physiology, 7 vols. (1893-1899); A. D. Hall, Books of the Rothamsted Experiments (1905).
8 including Channel islands and Isle of Man.
9 In 1903 two of the principal sources of supply of mutton shipped in excess of their exportable surplus, for which they suffered severely in 1904—hence the somewhat irregular movements after 1903.
10 Returns for only ten months were available for this year.
11 In the absence of experiments it is assumed that wheat is digested like other foods of the same class.
12 This sum was furnished out of a total of L. 693,851, forming the residue grant allocated for the purposes of education to the various county councils of England and Wales under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act 1890.
13 ``Unimproved'' land includes land which has never been ploughed, mown or cropped and also land once cultivated but now overgrown with trees or shrubs.
14Includes farms operated by owners, part-owners and tenants, and managers.
15Tenants of farms rented for a share of the products.
16 The demand for horses for the British troops in South Africa affected these years.
17 Decrease due to a severe frost in the winter of 1898-1899, which destroyed the peach crop in most of the states
AGRICULTURE, BOARD OF. The Board of Agriculture andFisheries, in England, owes its foundation to the establishment of a veterinary department of the privy council in 1865, when the Country was ravaged by cattle plague. An order in council abolished the name ``veterinary department'' in 1883 and substituted that of ``agricultural department,'' but no alteration was effected in the work of the department, so far as it related to animals. In 1889 the Board of Agriculture (for Great Britain) was formed under an act of parliament of that year, and the immediate control of the agricultural department was transferred from the clerk of the privy council to the secretary of the Board of Agriculture, where it remains.
A minister of agriculture had for years been asked for in the interests of the agricultural community, and the functions of this Office are discharged by the president of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, whose appointment is a political one, and may or may not carry with it a seat in the cabinet. The board consists of the lord president of the council, the five principal secretaries of state, the first lord of the treasury, the chancellor of the exchequer, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and the secretary for Scotland. The establishment consists of a president, secretary, assistant secretaries, &c. The salary of the president is L. 2000 a year, and that of the secretary L. 1500 a year.
The Board of Agriculture on its establishment took over from the privy council the responsibilities of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, besides the comprehensive duties of the Land Commission. The board, through its intelligence division, collects and prepares statistics relating to agriculture and forestry, and in 1904 appointed a number of honorary agricultural correspondents throughout the country for the purpose of bringing to the notice of the board any special circumstances affecting the practice of agriculture, horticulture and forestry, or the transport of farm, garden and forrest produce in their districts. The land division of the board prepares the annual agricultural and produce returns, and the three divisions, the animals, intelligence and land, take proceedings under the following acts:—the Diseases of Animals Acts, the Markets and Fairs (Weighing of Cattle) Acts, the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 1875 to 1800, the Merchandise Marks Acts 1887 to 1905, the Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act 1893, the Tithe Acts 1836 to 1891, the Copyhold Act 1894, the Inclosure Acts 1845 to 1899, the Agricultural Holdings Acts 1883 to 1900, the Drainage and Improvement of Land Acts, the Universities and College Estates Acts 1858 to 1898, the Glebe Lands Act 1888, &c. The board also has charge of the inspection of schools (not being public elementary schools) in which technical instruction is given in agriculture or forestry, and institutes such experimental investigations as may be deemed conducive to the progress of agriculture and forestry.
The Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom is under the control of the board, as well as the arrangements for the advertisement and sale of the publications of the Geological Survey. In 1903 the powers and duties formerly vested in the commissioners of the Office of Works, relating to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, were transferred to the board. The various departments of the board are (1) chief clerk's branch and indoor branch of animals division; (2) outdoor branch of the animals division; (3) veterinary department; (4) fisheries branch; (5) intelligence department; (6) educational branch; (7) accounts branch; (8) inclosure and common branch; (9) copyhold and tithe branch; (10) statistical branch; (11) law branch; (12) survey, land improvement and land drainage branch.
In 1903, in pursuance of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries Act 1903, the powers and duties of the Board of Trade under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Acts, the Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts and other acts relating to the industry of fishing, were transferred from that department to the Board of Agriculture, and its name was changed to its present form. The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland covers much the same ground. The Annual report of the proceedings of the Board of Agriculture under the Tithe and other Acts for 1902 contains a full account of its powers and duties.
In the British colonies the interests of agriculture are looked after in New South Wales, by an under-secretary for mines and agriculture; in Victoria, by a member of the executive council who holds the portfolio of lands and agriculture; in Queensland, by an under-secretary for agriculture; in New Zealand, by a minister for lands and agriculture; in Canada (see, for more detail, the article Canada, Canadian Agriculture), by a minister for agriculture (the various provinces have also departments of agriculture). The government of India has a secretary of revenue and agriculture. Cape Colony has a secretary for agriculture, a member of the cabinet; in the Transvaal Colony the director of agriculture is a departmental secretary; in Natal, the minister for agriculture is a member of the executive council, and the establishment consists, in addition, of a secretary, a director of agriculture, an entomologist, a dairy expert and a conservator of forests. Cyprus has a director of agriculture.
United States—The Department of Agriculture dates its rank as an executive department from 1889. It was first established as a department in 1862, ranking as a bureau, with a commissioner in charge. In addition to the commissioner there were appointed a statistician, chemist, entomologist and superintendent of a propagatory and experimental farm. Its scope was then somewhat limited, but its work was gradually enlarged by the appointment of a botanist in 1868, a microscopist in 1871, the creation of a forestry department in 1877, a bureau of animal industry in 1884 and the establishment of agricultural experiment stations throughout the country in 1887. In 1889 the department became an executive department, the principal official being designated Secretary of Agriculture, with a seat in the president's cabinet. His salary is $8000 a year. The secretary is now charged with the supervision of all business relating to the agricultural and productive industries. The fisheries have a separate bureau, and the public lands and mining interests are cared for in the Department of the Interior; but with these exceptions, all the productive interests are looked after by the Department of Agriculture. The department now comprises (1) the weather bureau, which has charge of the forecasting of weather; the issue of storm warnings; the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce and navigation; the gauging and reporting of rivers; the reporting of temperature and rainfall conditions for the cotton, rice, sugar and other interests; the display of frost and cold waves signals; and the distribution of meteorological information in the interest of agriculture and commerce; (2) the bureau of animal industry, which makes investigations as to the existence of contagious pleuro-pneumonia and other dangerous and communicable diseases of live stock, superintends the measures for their extirpation, makes original investigations as to the nature and prevention of such diseases, and reports on the conditions and means of improving the animal industries of the country; (3) the bureau of plant industry, which studies plant life in all its relations to agriculture. Its work is classified under the general subjects of pathological investigations, physiological investigations, taxonomic investigations, agronomic investigations, horticultural investigations and seed and plant introduction investigations; (4) the forest service, which is occupied with experiments, investigations and reports dealing with the subject of forestry, and with the dissemination of information upon forestry matters; (5) the bureau of chemistry, which investigates methods proposed for the analysis of plants, fertilizers and agricultural products, and makes such analyses as pertain in general to the interests of agriculture; (6) the bureau of soils, which is entrusted with the investigation, survey and mapping of soils; the investigation of the cause and prevention of the rise of alkali in the soil and the drainage of soils; and the investigation of the methods of growing, curing and fermentation of tobacco in the different tobacco districts; (7) the bureau of entomology, which obtains and disseminates information regarding insects injurious to vegetation; (8) the bureau of biological survey, which studies the geographic distribution of animals and plants, and maps the natural life zones of the country; it also investigates the economic relations of birds and mammals, and recommends measures for the preservation of beneficial, and the destruction of injurious, species; (9) the division of accounts and disbursements; (10) the division of publications; (11) the bureau of statistics, which collects information as to the condition, prospects and harvests of the principal crops, and of the number and status of farm animals. It records, tabulates and co-ordinates statistics of agricultural production, distribution and consumption, and issues monthly and annual crop reports for the information of producers and consumers. The section of foreign markets makes investigations and disseminates information concerning the feasibility of extending the demands of foreign markets for the agricultural products of the United States; the bureau also makes investigations of land tenures, cost of producing farm products, country life education, transportation and other lines of rural economies; (12) the library; (13) the office of experiment stations which represents the department in its relations to the experiment stations which are now in operation in all the states; it collects and disseminates general information regarding agricultural schools, colleges, stations, and publishes accounts of agricultural investigations at home and abroad; it also indicates lines of inquiry for the stations, aids in the conduct of co-operative experiments, reports upon their expenditures and work, and in general furnishes them with such advice and assistance as will best promote the purposes for which they were established; it conducts investigations relative to irrigation and drainage; (14) the office of public roads, which collects information concerning systems of road management, conducts investigations regarding the best method of road-making, and prepares publications on this subject.
In the following countries there are state departments of agriculture:—-Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, (industry, agriculture and public works), Bulgaria (commerce and agriculture), Denmark, France, Norway (agriculture and public accounts), Italy, Japan (agriculture and commerce), Prussia (agriculture, woods and forests), Russia (agriculture and crown domains), Sweden.
AGRIGENTUM (Gr. `Akragas mod. Girgenti (q.v.)), an ancient city on the south coastof Sicily, 2 1/2m. from the sea. It was founded (perhaps on the site of an early Sicanian settlement) by colonists from Gela about 582 B.C., and, though the lastest city of importance founded by the Greeks in Sicily, soon acquired a position second to that of Syracuse alone, owing to its favourable situation for trade with Carthage and to the fertility of its territory. Pindar (Pyth. xii. 2) calls it kallista brotean polion. The buildings for which it is famous all belong to the first two centuries of its existence. Phalaris, who is said to have roasted his enemies to death in a brazen bull (Pindar, Pyth.. i. 184), ruled as tyrant from 570 to 554. What form of government was established after his fall is uncertain; we know only that, after a long interval, Theron became tyrant (488-473); but his son Thrasydaeus was expelled after an unsuccessful war with Hiero in 472 and a democracy established. In the struggle between Syracuse and Athens (415-413) the city remained absolutely neutral. Its prosperity continued to increase (its population is given at over 200,000) until in 405 B.C., despite the help of the Siceliot cities, it was captured and plundered by the Carthaginians, a blow from which it never entirely re-covered. It was colonized by Timoleon in 338 B.C. with settlers from Veha in Lucania, and in the time of the tyrant Phintias (289-279) it had regained some of its power. In the First Punic War, however, it was sacked by the Romans (261) and the Carthaginians (255), and finally in the Second Punic War by the Romans (210). But it still retained its importance as a trading and agricultural centre, even in the Roman period, exporting not only agricultural products but textile fabrics and sulphur. In the local museum are tiles used for stamping cakes of sulphur, which show that the mines, at any rate from the 3rd century, were imperial property leased to contractors.
The site is one of great natural strength and remarkable beauty, though quite unlike that of other Greek cities in Sicily. The northern portion of it consists of a lofty ridge with two summits, the westernmost of which is occupied by the modern town (985 ft.), while the easternmost, which is slightly higher, bears the name of Rock of Athena, owing to its identification in modern days with the acropolis of Acragas as described by Polybius, who places upon it the temple of Zeus Atabyrius (the erection of which was attributed to the half mythical Phalaris) and that of Athena.1 It must be confessed that the available space (about 70 X 20 yds.) on the eastern summit (where there are some remains of ancient buildings) is so small that there would be only room for a single temple, which must have been occupied by the two deities jointly, if the new theory is correct (see Notizie degli scavi, 1902, 387 and reff.). In the modern town, on the other hand, the remains of one temple are to be seen in the church of S. Maria dei Greci, while the other is generally supposed to have occupied the site of the cathedral, though no traces of it are visible. But whichever of these two summits was the acropolis proper2 it is certain that both were included in the circuit of the city walls. On the north both summits are defended by cliffs; on the south the ground slopes away somewhat abruptly from the eastern summit towards the plateau on which the town stood, while the western summit is separated from this plateau by a valley traversed by a branch of the Hypsas [mod. drago], the deep ravine of which forms the western boundary and defence of the city. On the east of the city is the valley of the Acragas [Fiume S. Biagio], from which the city took its name and which, though shallower than that of the Hypsas, still affords a sufficient obstacle to attack, and the two unite a little way to the south of the town; at the mouth was the ancient harbour, small and now abandoned.
The most famous remains of the ancient city are the temples, the most important of which form a row along the low cliffs at the south end of the city. All are built in the Doric style, of the local porous stone, which is of a warm red brown colour, full of fossil shells and easily corroded when exposed to the air. It should be noted that their traditional names, with the exception of that of Zeus and that of Asclepius, have no foundation in fact, while the attribution of the temple in antis, into the cella of which the church of S. Biagio has been built, is uncertain.3 They are described in R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, Die griechishen Tempel in Unteritalien und Sicilien (Berlin, 1890), 138-184. Of all these temples the oldest is probably that of Heracles, while the best preserved are those of Hera and Concordia, which are very similar in dimensions; the latter, indeed, lacks nothing but its roof, owing its preservation to its conversion into the cathedral in 597 by Gregory II., bishop of Girgenti. Both temples belong to the best period of the Doric style and are among the finest in existence. In front of the former, as in front of those of Heracles and Zeus, stood a huge altar for burnt offerings, as long as the facade of the temple itself. The cella of the temple of Heracles underwent considerable modifications in Roman times, and the discovery in it of a statue of Asclepius seems to show that the cult of this deity superseded the original one.
In the colossal temple of Zeus the huge Atlantes (figures of Atlas), 25 ft. in height, are noticeable. They seem to have stood in the intercolumniations half-way up the outside wall and to have supported the epistyle. The collapse both of this temple and of that of Heracles must be attributed to an earthquake; many fallen blocks of the former were removed in 1756 for the construction of the harbour of Porto Empedocle. The four columns erected on the site of the temple of Castor and Pollux are a modern (and incorrect) restoration in which portions of two buildings have been used. Of that of Hephaestus only two columns remain, while of that of Asclepius, a mile to the south of the town, an anta and two pillars are preserved. It was in the latter temple that the statue of the god by Myron stood; it had probably been carried off to Carthage, was given to the temple by P. Scipio Africanus from the spoils of that city and aroused the cupidity of Verres.
The other remains within the city walls are of surprisingly small importance; near the picturesque church of S. Nicolo is the so-called Oratory of Phalaris, a shrine of the 2nd century B.C., 27 1/4 ft. long (including the porch) by 23 1/3 ft. wide; and not far off on the east is a large private house with white tesselated pavements, probably pre-Roman in origin but slightly altered in the Roman period (R. P. Jones and E. A. Gardner in JOURNAL OF HELLENIC STUDIES, xxvi., 1906, 207). Foundations of other buildings are to be seen in other parts of the site, but of little interest. The huge fishpond, spoken of by Diodorus as being 7 stadia in circumference (xi. 25), is to be seen at the south-west corner of the city; it is an enormous excavation in the rock with drains in its sides, at the bottom of which there is now a flourishing orange garden.
Demeter Hera Con-(Acragas?) Lacinia. cordia. Heracles. Zeus.
Length excludingsteps4 90? 125 129 1/4 220 361Breadth 40 1/2 55 1/2 55 1/2 83 173 1/2Length of cella .. 93 96 1/4 156 332Breadth of cella .. 32 1/2 31 1/2 45 3/4 144 1/4Height of columnswith capital .. 21 22 33 62 1/2?Diameter ofcolumns atbottom .. 4 1/2 4 1/2 6 1/2 14Original numberof columns .. 34 34 38 38Class In antis. Perip- Perip- Perip- Pseudoteros teros teros Peripteroshexa- hexa- hexa- hexa-stylos. stylos. stylos. stylos.Approximate date 450 B.C. 480-440 440-420 500 B.C. 450 B.C.B.C. B.C.
UnnamedCastor near Castorand and Hephae-Pollux. Pollux. scus. Asclepius. Athena.
Length excludingsteps (1) .. .. .. .. ..Breadth .. 67 1/4 57 1/2 30 1/2 45Length of cella 91 .. .. .. ..Breadth of cella 33 .. .. .. ..Height of columnswith capital 19 1/2 .. .. .. ..Diameter ofcolumns atbottom 4 .. 5 3 1/3 4 2/3Original numberof columns 34 .. .. .. ..Class Perip- .. Perip- Prostylos Perip-teros teros pseudo teroshexa- hexa- perip-stylos. stylos. teros.Approximate date 338-210. .. after 338 before 210 488-472B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C. B.C.
The line of the city walls can be distinctly traced for most of the circuit, but the actual remains of them are inconsiderable. On the east and west the ravines already mentioned afforded, in the main, a sufficient protection, so that a massive wall was unnecessary, while near the south-eastern angle a breastwork was formed by the excavation of the natural rock,5 which in later times was honeycombed with tombs. E. A. Freeman attributes the southern portion of the walls to Theron (Hist. of Sic. ii. 224), but the question depends upon the date of the temple of Heracles; and if Koldewey and Puchstein are right in dating it so early as 500 B.C., it is probable that the wall was in existence by that time. Close to this temple on the west is the site of the gate known in later times as the porta aurea, through which the modern road passes, so that no traces now remain.
Tombs of the Greek period have mainly been found on the west of the town, outside the probable line of the walls, between the Hypsas and a small tributary, the latter having been spanned by a bridge, now called Ponite dei Morti, of which one massive pier, 45 ft. in width, still exists. Just outside the south wall is a Roman necropolis, with massive tombs in masonry, and a Christian catacomb, and a little farther south a tomb in two stories, a mixture of Doric and Ionic architecture, belonging probably to the 2nd century B.C., though groundlessly called the Tomb of Theron. A village of the Byzantine period has been explored at Balatizzo, immediately to the south of the modern town (Notizie degli scavi, 1900, 511-520). The walls of the dwellings are entirely cut out of the natural rock.
See J. Schubring, Historische Topographie von Akragas(Leipzig, 1570); R. Koldewey and O. Puchstein, op. cit.; C.Hulsen in Pauly-Wissowa, Encyclopadie, i. 1187. (T. As.)
1 E. A. Freeman, History of Sicily (Oxford, 1891), i. 438, accepts the name ``Rock of Athena'' and yet puts the acropolis on the site of the modern town, arguing further that the cathedral hill was an acropolis within an acropolis (II. and XVII.).
2 Some writers place Kamikos, the city of the mythical Sican Kokalos, on the site of Acragas or its acropolis; but it appears to have lain to the north-west, possibly at Caltabellotta, 10m. north-east of Sciacca. We hear of it even in the Punic Wars as a fortified post of Acragas (E. A. Freeman, Hist. of Sic. i. 495).
3 The attribution to Demeter is supported by the discovery of votive terra-cottas, representing Demeter and Kore in the neighbourhood, while the conjecture that it was dedicated to the river-god Acragas rests on its position above the river, in the valley of which, indeed, a statue which may represent the deity has been discovered.
4 Dimensions in English feet.
5 Polybius ix. 27 keitai to teixos epi petras akrotomon kai perirrogos e men autofnous e de xeiropoieton.
AGRIMONY (from the Lat. agrimonia, a transformation of argemone, a word of unknown etymology), a slender perennial herb (botanical name, agrimonia eupatoria, natural order Rosaceae), 1 1/2 to 3 ft. high, growing in hedge-banks, copses and borders of fields. The leafy stem ends in spikes of small yellow flowers. The flower-stalk becomes recurved in the fruiting stage, and the fruit bears a number of hooks which enable it to cling to rough objects, such as the coat of an animal, thus ensuring distribution of the seed. The plant is common in Britain and widely spread through the north temperate region. The underground woody stem is astringent and yields a yellow dye.
The name has been unsystematically given to several other plants; for instance: bastard, Dutch, hemp or water agrimony (eupatorium cannabinum); noble or three-leaved agrimony (anemone hellalica); water agrimony (bideus); and wild agrimony (potentilla anserina.)
AGRIONIA, an ancient Greek festival, which was celebrated annually at Orchomenus in Boeotia and elsewhere, in honour of Dionysus Agrionius, by women and priests at night. The women, after playfully pretending for some time to search for the god, desisted, saying that he had hidden himself among the Muses. The tradition is that the daughters of Minyas, king of Orchomenus, having despised the rites of the god, were seized with frenzy and ate the flesh of one of their children. At this festival it was originally the custom for the priest of the god to pursue a woman of the Minyan family with a drawn sword and kill her. (Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 102, Quaest. Graecae 38.)
AGRIPPA, a sceptical philosopher, whose date cannot be accurately determined. He must have lived later than Aenesidemus, who is generally said to have been a contemporary of Cicero. To him are ascribed the five tropes pente tropoi which, according to Sextus Empiricus, summarize the attitude of the later ancient sceptics. The first trope emphasizes the disagreement of philosophers on all fundamental points; knowledge comes either from the senses or from reason. Some thinkers hold that nothing is known but the things of sense; others that the things of reason alone are known; and so on. It follows that the only wise course is to be content with an attitude of indifference, neither to affirm nor to deny. The second trope deals with the validity of proof; the proof of one so-called fact depends on another fact which itself needs demonstration, and so on ad infinitum. The third points out that the data of sense are relative to the sentient being, those of reason to the intelligent mind; that in different conditions things themselves are seen or thought to be different. Where, then, is the absolute criterion? Fourthly, if we examine things fairly, we see that in point of fact all knowledge depends on certain hypotheses, or facts taken for granted. Such knowledge is fundamentally hypothetical, and might well be accepted as such without the labour of a demonstration which is logically invalid. The fifth trope points out the impossibility of proving the sensible by the intelligible inasmuch as it remains to establish the intelligible in its turn by the sensible. Such a process is a vicious circle and has no logical validity. A comparison of these tropes with the ten tropes enumerated in the article AENESIDEMUS shows that scepticism has made an advance into the more abtruse questions of metaphysics. The first and the third include all the ideas expressed in the ten tropes, and the other three systematize the more profound difficulties which new thinkers had developed. Aenesidemus was content to attack the validity of sense-given knowledge; Agrippa goes further and impugns the possibility of all truth whatever. His reasons are those of modern scepticism, the reasons which by their very nature are not susceptible of disproof.
See Diogenes Laertius x. 88, and Zeller's GreekPhilosophy. Also the articles SCEPTICISM; AENESIDEMUS.
AGRIPPA, HEROD, I. (c. 10 B.C.-A.D. 44), king of Judea, the son of Aristobulus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great, was born about 10 B.C. His original name was Marcus Julius Agrippa. Josephus informs us that, after the murder of his father, Herod the Great sent him to Rome to the court of Tiberius, who conceived a great affection for him, and placed him near his son Drusus, whose favour he very soon won. On the death of Drusus, Agrippa, who had been recklessly extravagant, was obliged to leave Rome, overwhelmed with debt. After a brief seclusion, Herod the Tetrarch, his uncle, who had married Herodias, his sister, made him Agoranomos (Overseer of Markets) of Tiberias, and presented him with a large sum of money; but his uncle being unwilling to continue his support, Agrippa left Judea for Antioch and soon after returned to Rome, where he was welcomed by Tiberius and became the constant campanion of the emperor Gaius (Caligula), then a popular favourite. Agrippa being one day overheard by Eutyches, a slave whom he had made free, to express a wish for Tiberius' death and the advancement of Gaius, was betrayed to the emperor and cast into prison. In A.D. 37 Caligula, having ascended the throne, heaped wealth and favours upon Agrippa, set a royal diadem upon his head and gave him the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis, which Philip, the son of Herod the Great, had formerly possessed. To this he added that held by Lysanias; and Agrippa returned very soon into Judea to take possession of his new kingdom. In A.D. 39 he returned to Rome and brought about the banishment of Herod Antipas, to whose tetrarchy he succeeded. On the assassination of Caligula (A.D. 41) Agrippa contributed much by his advice to maintain Claudius in possession of the imperial dignity, while he made a show of being in the interest of the senate. The emperor, in acknowledgment, gave him the government of Judea, while the kingdom of Chalcis in Lebanon was at his request given to his brother Herod. Thus Agrippa became one of the greatest princes of the east, the territory he possessed equalling in extent that held by Herod the Great. He returned to Judea and governed it to the great satisfaction of the Jews. His zeal, private and public, for Judaism is celebrated by Josephus and the rabbis; and the narrative of Acts xii. gives a typical example of it. About the feast of the Passover A.D. 44, James the elder, the son of Zebedee and brother of John the evangelist, was seized by his order and put to death. He proceeded also to lay hands on Peter and imprisoned him. After the Passover he went to Caesarea, where he had games performed in honour of Claudius, and the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon waited on him to sue for peace.. According to the story in Acts xii., Agrippa, gorgeously arrayed, received them in the theatre, and addressed them from a throne, while the audience cried out that his was the voice of a god. But ``the angel of the Lord smote him,'' and shortly afterwards he died ``eaten of worms.'' The story in Acts differs slightly from that in Josephus, who describes how in the midst of his elation he saw an owl perched over his head. During his confinement by Tiberius a like omen had been interpreted as portending his speedy release, with the warning that should he behold the same sight again he would die within' five days. He was immediately smitten with violent pains, and after a few days died. Josephus says nothing of his being ``eaten of worms,'' but the discrepancies between the two stories are of slight moment. A third account omits all the apocryphal elements in the story and says that Agrippa was assassinated by the Romans, who objected to his growing power.
See articles in Ency, Bibl. (W. J. Woodhouse),Jewish Ency. (M. Brann), with further relerences; N.S. Libowitz, Herod and Agrippa (New York, 2nd ed.,1898); Gratz, Geschchte d. Juden, iii. 318-361.
AGRIPPA, HEROD, II. (27-100), son of the preceding, and like him originally Marcus Julius Agrippa, was born about A.D. 27, and received the tetrarchy of Chalcis and the oversight of the Temple on the death of his uncle Herod, A.D. 48. In A.D. 53 he was deprived of that kingdom by Claudius, who gave him other provinces instead of it. In the war which Vespasian carried on against the Jews Herod sent him 2000 men, by which it appears that, though a Jew in religion, he was yet entirely devoted to the Romans, whose assistance indeed he required to secure the peace of his own kingdom. He died at Rome in the third year of . Trajan, A.D. 100. He was the seventh and last king of the family of Herod the Great. It was before him and his sister Berenice (q.v., B.2) that St Paul pleaded his cause at Caesarea (Acts xxvi.). He supplied Josephus with information for his history.
AGRIPPA, MARCUS VIPSANIUS (63-12 P.C.), Roman statesman and general, son-in-law and minister of the emperor Augustus, was of humble origin. He was of the same age as Octavian (as the emperor was then called), and was studying with him at Apollonia when news of Julius Caesar's assassination (44) arrived. By his advice Octavian at once set out for Rome. Agrippa played a conspicuous part in the war against Lucius, . brother of Mark Antony, which ended in the capture of Perusia (40). Two years later he put down a rising of the Aquitallians in Gaul, and crossed the Rhine to punish the aggressions of the Germans. On his return he refused a triumph but accepted the consulship (37). At this time Sextus Pompeius, with whom war was imminent, had command of the sea on the coasts of Italy. Agrippa's first care was to provide a safe harbour for his ships, which he accomplished by cutting through the strips of land which separated the Lacus Lucrinus from the sea, thus forming an outer harbour; an inner one was also made by joining the lake Avernus to the Lucrinus (Dio Cassius xlviii. 49; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 24). About this time Agrippa married Pomponia, daughter of Cicero's friend Pomponius Atticus. Having been appointed naval commander-in-chief he put his crews through a course of training, until he felt in a position to meet the fleet of Pompeius. In 36 he was victorious at Mylae and Naulochus, and received the honour of a naval crown for his services. In 33 he was chosen aedile and signalized his tenure of office by effecting great improvements in the city of Rome, restoring and building aqueducts, enlarging and cleansing the sewers, and constructing baths and porticos, and laying out gardens. He also first gave a stimulus to the public exhibition of works of art. The emperor's boast that he had found the city of brick but left it of marble (``marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset,'' Suet. Aug. 29) might with greater propriety have been uttered by Agrippa. He was again called away to take command of the fleet when the war with Antony broke out. The victory at Actium (31), which gave the mastery of Rome and the empire of the world to Octavian, was mainly due to Agrippa. As a token of signal regard Octavian bestowed upon him the hand of his niece Marcella (28). We must suppose that his wife Pomponia was either dead or divorced. In 27 Agrippa was consul for the third time, and in the following year the senate bestowed upon Octavian the emperial title of Augustus. Probably in commemoration of the battle of Actium, Agrippa built and dedicated the Pantheum still in existence as La Rotonda. The inscription on the portico states that it was erected by him during his third consulship. His friendship with Augustus seems to have been clouded by the jealousy of his father-in-law Marcellus, which was probably fomented by the intrigues of Livia, the second wife of Augustus, who feared his influence with her husband. The result was that Agrippa left Rome, ostensibly to take over the governorship of Syria —a sort of honourable exile; but as a matter of fact he only sent his legate to the East, while he himself remained at Lesbos. On the death of Marcellus, which took place within a year, he was recalled to Rome by Augustus, who found he could not dispense with his services. It is said that by the advice of Maecenas he resolved to attach Agrippa still more closely to him by making him his son-in-law. He accordingly induced him to divorce Marcella and marry his daughter Julia (21), the widow of Marcellus, equally celebrated for her beauty and abilities and her shameless profligacy. In 19 Agrippa was employed in putting down a rising of the Cantabrians in Spain. He was appointed governor of Syria a second time (17), where his just and prudent administration won him the respect and good-will of the provincials, especially the Hebrew population. His last public service was the bloodless suppression of an insurrection in Pannonia (13). He died at Campania in March of the year following his fifty-first year. Augustus honoured his memory by a magnificent funeral.
Agrippa was also known as a writer, especially on geography. Under his supervision Julius Caesar's design of having a complete survey of the empire made was carried out. From the materials at hand he constructed a circular chart, which was engraved on marble by Augustus and afterwards placed in the colonnade built by his sister Polla. Amongst his writings an autobiography, now lost, is referred to. Agrippa left several children; by Pomponia, a daughter Vipsania, who became the wife of the emperor Tiberius; by Julia three sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus, and two daughters, Agrippina the elder, afterwards the wife of Germanicus, and Julia, who married Lucius Aemihus Pauilus.
See Dio Cassius xlix.-liv.; Suetonius, Augustus; VelleiusPaternulus ii.; Josephus, Antiq. Jud. xv. 10, xvi. 2;Turnbull, Three Dissertations, one of the characters ofHorace, Augustus and Agrippa (1740); Frandsen, MarcusVipsanius Agrippa (1836); Motte, Etude sur MarcusAgrippa (1872); Nispi-Landi, Marcus Agrippa e suoitempi (1901); D. Detlefsen, Ursprung, Einrichtung undBedeutung der Erdkarte Agrippas (1906); V. Gardthausen,Augustus und seine Zeit, vol. i. 762 foll., ii. 432 foll.
AGRIPPA VON NETTESHEIM, HENRY CORNELIUS (1486-1535) German writer, soldier, physician, and by common reputation a magician, belonged to a family many members of which had been in the service of the house of Habsburg, and was born at Cologne on the 14th of September 1486. The details of his early life are somewhat obscure, but he appears to have obtained a knowledge of eight languages, to have studied at the university of Cologne and to have passed some time in France. When quite young he entered the service of the German king, Maximilian I., and in 1508 was engaged in an adventurous enterprise in Catalonia. He probably served Maximilian both as soldier and as secretary, but his wonderful and varied genius was not satisfied with these occupations, and he soon began to take a lively interest in theosophy and magic. In 1509 he went to the university of Dole, where he lectured on John Reuchlin's De Verbo Mirifico, but his teaching soon caused charges of heresy to be brought against him, and he was denounced by a monk named John Catilinet in lectures delivered at Ghent. As a result Agrippa was compelled to leave Dole; proceeding to the Netherlands he took service again with Maximilian. In 1510 the king sent him on a diplomatic mission to England, where he was the guest of Colet, dean of St Paul's, and where he replied to the accusations brought against him by Catilinet. Returning to Cologne he followed Maximilian to Italy in 1511, and as a theologian attended the council of Pisa, which was called by some cardinals in opposition to a council called by Pope Julius II. He remained in Italy for seven years, partly in the service of William VI., marquis of Monferrato, and partly in that of Charles III., duke of Savoy, probably occupied in teaching theology and practising medicine.
In 1515 he lectured at the university of Pavia on the Pimander of Hermes Trismegistus, but these lectures were abruptly terminated owing to the victories of Francis I., king of France. In 1518 the efforts of one or other of his patrons secured for Agrippa the position of town advocate and orator, or syndic, at Metz. Here, as at Dole, his opinions soon brought him into collision with the monks, and his defence of a woman accused of witchcraft involved him in a dispute with the inquisitor, Nicholas Savin. The consequence of this was that in 1520 he resigned his office and returned to Cologne, where he stayed about two years. He then practised for a short time as a physician at Geneva and Freiburg, but in 1524 went to Lyons on being appointed physician to Louise of Savoy, mother of Francis I. In 1528 he gave up this position, and about this time was invited to take part in the dispute over the legality of the divorce of Catherine of Aragon by Henry VIII.; but he preferred an offer made by Margaret, duchess of Savoy and regent of the Netherlands, and became archivist and historiographer to the emperor Charles V. Margaret's death in 1530 weakened his position, and the publication of some of his writings about the same time aroused anew the hatred of his enemies; but after suffering a short imprisonment for debt at Brussels he lived at Cologne and Bonn, under the protection of Hermann of Wied, archbishop of Cologne. By publishing his works he brought himself into antagonism with the Inquisition, which sought to stop the printing of De occulta philosophia. He then went to France, where he was arrested by order of Francis I. for some disparaging words about the queen-mother; but he was soon released, and on the 18th of February 1535 died at Grenoble. He was married three times and had a large family. Agrippa was a man of great ability and undoubted courage, but he lacked perseverance and was himself responsible for many of his misfortunes. In spite of his inquiring nature and his delight in novelty, he remained a Catholic, and had scant sympathy with the teaching of the reformers. His memory was nevertheless long defamed in the writings of the monks, who placed a malignant inscription over his grave. Agrippa's work, De occulta philosophia, was written about 1510, partly under the influence of the author's friend, John Trithemius, abbot of Wurzburg, but its publication was delayed until 1531, when it appeared at Antwerp. It is a defence of magic, by means of which men may come to a knowledge of nature and of God, and contains Agrippa's idea of the universe with its three worlds or spheres. His other principal work, De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientiarum et Artium Atque Excellentia Verbi Dei Declamatio, was written about 1527 and published at Antwerp in 1531. This is a sarcastic attack on the existing sciences and on the pretensions of learned men. In it Agrippa denounces the accretions which had grown up around the simple doctrines of Christianity, and wishes for a return to the primitive belief of the early Christian church. He also wrote De Nobilitate et Praecellentia Deminei Sexus, dedicated to Margaret of Burgundy, De Matrimonii Sacramento and other smaller works. An edition of his works was published at Leiden in 1550 and they have been republished several times. See H. Morley, Life of H. C. Agrippa (London, 1856); A. Prost, Les Sciences at les arts occultes au xvi. Siecle: Corneille Agrippa sa vie et ses oeuvres (Paris, 1881); A. Daguet, Cornelius Agrippa (Paris, 1856).
AGRIPPINA, the ``elder,'' daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa by his third wife Julia, was the grand-daughter of Augustus and the wife of Germanicus. She accompanied her husband to Germany, when the legions on the Rhine revolted after the death of Augustus (A.D. 14). Three years later she was in the East with Germanicus (q.v.), who died at Antioch in 19, poisoned, it was said, by order of Cn. Calpurnius Piso, governor of Syria. Eager to avenge his death, she returned to Rome and boldly accused Piso of the murder of Germanicus. To avoid public infamy Piso committed suicide. Tiberius and his favourite Sejanus feared that her ambition might lead her to attempt to secure the throne for her children, and she was banished to the island of Pandataria off the coast of Campania, where she died on the 18th of October 33, starved to death by herself, or, according to some, by order of Tiberius. Two of her sons, Nero and Drusus, had already fallen victims to the machinations cf Sejanus. Agrippina had a large family by Germanicus, several of whom died young, while only two are of importance— Agrippina the ``younger'' and Gaius Caesar, who succeeded Tiberius under the name of Caligula. It is remarkable that, although Tiberius had ordored the execution of his elder brothers, by his will he left Caligula one of the heirs of the empire. Agrippina was a woman of the highest character and exemplary morality. There is a portrait of her in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and a bronze medal in the British Museum representing the bringing back of her ashes to Rome by order of Caligula.
See Tac. Ann. i.-vi.; Suetonius, Tiberius, 53; Dio Cassius lvii. 6, lviii. 22, lix. 3; Elizabeth Hamilton, Memoirs of the Life of Agrippina (1804): Burkhard, Agrippina, des Agrippa Tochter (1846); Stahr, Romische Kaiserfrauen (1880).
AGRIPPINA, the ``younger'' (A.D. 16-59), daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder, sister of Caligula and mother of Nero, was born at Oppidum Ubiorum on the Rhine, afterwards named in her honour Colonia Agrippinae (mod. Cologne). Her life was notorious for intrigue and perfidy. By her first husband, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, she was the mother of the emperor Nero; her second husband was Passienus Crispus, whom she was accused of poisoning. Assisted by the influential freedman Tallas, she induced her uncle the emperor Claudius to marry her after the death of Messalina, and adopt the future Nero as heir to the throne in place of Britannicus. Soon afterwards she poisoned Claudius and secured the throne for her son, with the intention of practically ruling on his behalf. Being alarmed at the influence of the freedwoman Acte over Nero, sbe threatened to support the claims of the rightful heir Britannicus. Nero thereupon murdered the young prince and decided to get rid of his mother. Pretending a reconciliation, he invited her to Baiae, where an attempt was made to drown her on a vessel especially constructed to founder. As this proved a failure, he had her put to death at her country house. Agrippina wrote memoirs of her times, referred to by Tacitus (Ann. iv. 53). Her character is set forth in Racine's Britannicus.
See Tac.Ann. xii., xiii., xiv.; Dio Cassius lix.-lxi.; Suetonius,NERO, 34; Stahr, Agrippina. die Mutter Neros (1880); Raffay, DieMemoiren der Kaiserin Agrippina (1884); B. W. Henderson, The Lifeand Principate of the Emperor Nero (1903); also article NERO.
AGROTERAS THUSIA, an annual festival held at Agrae near Athens, in honour of Artemis Agrotera, in fulfilment of a vow made by the city, before the battle of Marathon, to offer in sacrifice a number of goats equal to that of the Persians slain in the conflict. The number being so great, it was decided to offer 100 goats yearly.
See Plutarch, De Malignitate Herodoti, 26; Xenophon, Anab. iii. 2. 12; Aelian, Var. Hist. ii. 25; Schol. on Aristophanes, Equites, 660.
AGUADILLA, a town and port near the northern extremity of the W. coast of Porto Rico. Pop. (1899) 6425. It has a fairly good and safe anchorage, and is the commercial outlet for a very fertile agricultural district. The town is attractively situated and well built, and is connected by railway with Mayaguez, 20 m. distant, and also with Ponce and San Juan. The neighbouring district produces sugar-cane, tobacco, cattle, cocoanuts, oranges and lemons. The bay is supposed to have been first visited by Columbus (November 1493), though the town was not founded until 1775.