Agravaine, Sir, one of the knights of the Round Table.
Agreement of the People. See Levellers.
Agric′ola, Gnæus Julius, lived from A.D. 37 to 93, a Roman consul under the Emperor Vespasian, and governor in Britain, the greater part of which he reduced to the dominion of Rome; distinguished as a statesman and general. His life, written by his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, gives the best extant account of Britain in the early part of the period of the Roman rule. He was the twelfth Roman general who had been in Britain, but was the only one who effectually subdued the southern portion of it and reconciled the Britons to the Roman yoke. This he did by teaching them the arts of civilization and to settle in towns. He constructed the chain of forts between the Forth and the Clyde, defeated Galgacus at the battle of Mons Graupius, and sailed round the island, discovering the Orkneys.
Agric′ola, Georg (originally Bauer, that is, peasant = Lat. agricola), born in Saxony 1490, died at Chemnitz 1555, German physician and mineralogist. Though tinged with the superstitions of his age, he made the first successful attempt to reduce mineralogy to a science, and introduced many improvements in the art of mining. A complete edition of his works was published at Basel in 1550 and 1558.
Agricola, Johann, the son of a tailor at Eisleben, was born in 1492, and called, from his native city, master of Eisleben (magister Islebius); one of the most active among the theologians who propagated the doctrines of Luther. In 1537, when professor in Wittenberg, he stirred up the Antinomian controversy with Luther and Melanchthon. He afterwards lived at Berlin, where he died in 1566, after a life of controversy. Besides his theological works he composed a work explaining the common German proverbs.
Agricola, Johann Friedrich, German musician and composer, born near Altenburg 1720, died at Berlin 1774; pupil of Sebastian Bach; wrote several operas, including Iphigenia in Tauris. He wrote under the pseudonym of 'Olibrio'.
Agricola, Rodolphus, German scholar, born at Groningen 1443, died at Heidelberg 1485. After travelling in France and Italy he was appointed professor of philosophy at Heidelberg, and did good service in transplanting the revived classical learning into Germany.
Ag′riculture is the art of cultivating the ground, more especially with the plough and in large areas or fields, in order to raise grain and other crops for man and beast; including the art of preparing the soil, sowing and planting seeds, removing the crops, and also the raising and feeding of cattle or other live stock. This art is the basis of all other arts, and in all countries coeval with the first dawn of civilization. At how remote a period it must have been successfully practised in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China we have no means of knowing, but there is sufficient evidence of agriculture having attained considerable development many centuries before the Christian era. Egypt was renowned as a corn country in the time of the Jewish patriarchs, and had probably been so for centuries before. The hieroglyphics on ancient monuments furnish records of the early development of agriculture in Egypt and of the use of the plough and other agricultural implements. The advanced methods of the Egyptians and Syrians were introduced into Europe by the Saracens. Land culture also attained a more or less considerable development in ancient China and Hindustan. Among the ancient Greeks the implements of agriculture were very few and simple. Hesiod, who wrote a poem on agriculture as early as the eighth century B.C., mentions a plough consisting of three parts, the share-beam, the draught-pole, and the plough-tail, but antiquarians are not agreed as to its exact form. The ground received three ploughings, one in autumn, another in spring, and a third immediately before sowing the seed. Manures were applied, and the advantage of mixing soils, as sand with clay or clay with sand, was understood. Seed was sown by hand, and covered with a rake. Grain was reaped with a sickle, bound in sheaves, thrashed, then winnowed by wind, laid in chests, bins, or granaries, and taken out as wanted by the family, to be ground. Agriculture was highly esteemed among the ancient Romans, and very full accounts are contained in the works of Pliny, Virgil, Cato, Varro, and Palladius. The Romans used a great many different implements of agriculture. The plough is represented by Cato as of two kinds, one for strong, the other for light soils. Varro mentions one with two mould-boards, with which, he says, "when they plough, after sowing the seed, they are said to ridge". Pliny mentions a plough with one mould-board, and others with a coulter, of which he says there were many kinds. Fallowing was a practice rarely deviated from by the Romans. In most cases a fallow and a year's crop succeeded each other. Manure was collected from various sources, and irrigation was practised on a large scale.
The Romans introduced their agricultural knowledge among the Britons, and during the most flourishing period of the Roman occupation large quantities of corn were exported from Britain to the Continent. During the time that the Angles and Saxons were extending their conquests over the country agriculture must have been greatly neglected; but afterwards it was practised with some success among the Anglo-Saxon population, especially, as was generally the case during the Middle Ages, on lands belonging to the Church. Swine formed at this time a most important portion of the live stock, finding plenty of oak and beech mast to eat. The feudal system introduced by the Normans, though beneficial in some respects as tending to ensure the personal security of individuals, operated powerfully against progress in agricultural improvements. War and the chase, the two ancient and deadliest foes of husbandry, formed the most prominent occupations of the Norman princes and nobles. Thriving villages and smiling fields were converted into deer forests, vexatious imposts were laid on the farmers, and the serfs had no interest in the cultivation of the soil. But the monks of every monastery retained such of their lands as they could most conveniently take charge of, and these they cultivated with great care, under their own inspection, and frequently with their own hands. The various operations of husbandry, such as manuring, ploughing, sowing, harrowing;, reaping, thrashing, winnowing, &c., are incidentally mentioned by the writers of those days; but it is impossible to collect from them a definite account of the manner in which those operations were performed.