Observations on Southern Italy

Author(s): T. Eugene Beattie

Source: Agricultural History, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), pp. 120-126
Published by: Agricultural History Society
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3739558
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 120 T. EUGENE BEATTTE

national objectives to the fore, and many of them

SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE TRENDS IN

AGRICULTURAL POLICIES will also have their agricultural aid counterparts.

A aid
Does a review of this field of Federal greater interest in international problems, for
yield
any suggestions regarding possible future lines of well reflect itself in agricultural aid
example, may
programs
Federal action on behalf of agriculture? that promise to contribute something to
To fore-
objectiveseven
cast specific measures when we cannot foresee in this sphere.
A third
the general economic situation a few years henceinfluence that is likely to continue is the
tendency
would be presumptuous. Yet developments in the to develop agricultural aid programs for
which an emotional as distinct from an economic
past do suggest certain basic tendencies that are
likely to persist. appeal can be made to nonagricultural groups.
Farm
One suggestion is that agricultural aid isforeclosures,
very unsanitary housing, and inade?
quate nutrition
likely to be introduced in connection with fairly and medical care are conditions
that can be dramatized and for which corrective
well-established patterns of public action in rela?
measures
tion to agriculture, even though the major are likely to receive widespread support.
objec?
The
tives of the Federal aid may be either much pattern of postwar agricultural aid arrange-
broader
or much narrower than the traditional field of ments thus is not likely to conform very closely to
public action with which the aid is associated.one devised solely in terms of a direct attack on
For example, aside from any agricultural aid ad? fundamental agricultural problems. It is often
vantages inherent in governmental programsnecessary to utilize aid arrangements that are
partially in conflict. Devising slogans and devel?
affecting prices received by farmers, the mere fact
that such an approach is well established willoping support for measures from groups with
diverse and often conflicting interests is peculiarly
argue strongly for its use in the future. For much
the same reasons the credit mechanism is likely tothe function of political leaders and a very vital
continue to be an important avenue for Federal aid.function in a democracy. Because the democratic
Purely from the viewpoint of legislative and ad? process is what it is, special aids for agriculture are
very likely to continue to be a patch work not unlike
ministrative considerations, it is often more feasible
the modern tax system. Areas of overlapping aids
to attach special aid to an existing field of govern?
mental activity than to develop new approaches. and of "blind spots" are likely to continue. Also,
benefits from one kind of agricultural aid may be
This is especially true when the action is expected
to be temporary. negated by competitive economic burdens arising
The record of the past also suggests that agri?from other aids or from action taken with respect
cultural aids will continue to emphasize govern?to nonagricultural problems. Aids that tend to
promote one public objective may be offset by the
mental activities that contribute to objectives of
more than strictly agricultural interest. Wide? collateral effects of aids designed to promote
spread public interest in programs relating to another. Getting any action at all often involves
conservation of natural resources, strengtheningcompromises that seem, to one who abstracts
the national credit structure, stimulating the over-economic problems out of their political setting, to
all flow of purchasing power, improved diets andinvolve unnecessarily high costs in relation to net
nutrition, etc, provided an environment favorablereturns in terms of social welfare. The social
scientist has in this field an excellent opportunity
to the development of a number of the agricultural
aid programs in the depression years of the 1930s.
to use his specialized research techniques to throw
The postwar years doubtless will bring otherlight on the net effects of such governmental action.

OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTHERN ITALY

T. EUGENE BEATTIE

As the war continues in northern Italy, basic facts

lifestand
in out prominently. Italy is still
the southern provinces is slowly returning primarilytoansome
agricultural nation with limited re-
semblance of normalcv.1 To the observer certain
author's former professor, Donald L. Kemmerer of the
University of Illinois, on Dec. 6, 1944. The author
1 This article is based on eleven months' observation
was accidentally drowned in Italy on Jan. 17, 1945.
while serving with the United States military forces in The article has been passed for publication by the
the provinces of southern Italy. It was mailed to the censor.?Editor.

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 OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTHERN ITALY 121

sources and few raw materials. The southern Adriatic coast and inland from 30 to 60 miles.
provinces remain retarded agriculturally despite Here marks of the Fascist farm program stand side
the ambitious agricultural program of Mussolini. by side with old-time agriculture. Improved hard-
The political bents and concepts are varied top androads in the Foggia area are dotted on both
confused, and potential postwar problems, includ?sides by farms built under the Fascist institution,
ing inflationary dangers, new aspects of demand, the Opera Nazionale Combattenti (the O.N.C.);
and physical and social reconstruction are already
southward toward Molfetta the picturesque water-
discernible. wheel country stands in sharp contrast.2
A visit to a Foggia bookstore still will uncover
It will be recalled that Mussolini's assumption of
power came at a time when the nation was agricultural
still literature cf the O.N.C. regime, sug-
gesting that Italian farmers are literates interested
being rocked by the industrial, political, and finan?
cial tremors folio wing World War I. Debts were in scientific farming. There are, for example, the
high; the lira had fallen in value; prices O.N.C.-edited
had Le macchine agricole with its 478
pages of instruction and illustration on the care,
soared; there was unrest between peasant and land?
lord; grain production was low; agriculture operation,
was and maintenance of agricultural power
plagued with the traditional extremes of the lati-
machinery. Or, if one is interested in crop culture,
there still are remnants of the pamphlet series en?
fundia on the one hand and the small single-family
titled Biblioteca di coltura, with its works on the
freeholds and tenancies on the other; and illiteracy
was widespread. cultivation of rice, fruit, coffee, and the like. Like?
wise, portions of the pamphlets called / libri del-
The observer in southern Italy today speculates
as to whether or not the conditions following Vagricoltore still are available. The initial impres?
World War I were essentially different from sionthe of progressiveness given by the publications,
however, is dispelled and replaced by doubt as one
post-war potentials of conditions in the southern
provinces today. travels through Apulia, Campania, Lucania, and
other provinces in the south.
AGRICULTURE IN TKE SOUTHERN PROVINCES On the main highways of the Manfredonian
The statistics from Italy under Fascismpeninsula
tended and on the highways west and south of
to give the American student a distorted view and
Foggia of from Foggia to Cerignola, one sees the
standardized Fascist farm with houses similar to
Italian agriculture because they high-lighted the
modern aspects of Italian rural areas and thetoned
kind referred to as Type 13 in the official
down the yet-to-be-modernized phases O.N.C.
of thebook, VAgro Pontino.3 In contrast to the
neat and, for Italy, modern buildings on the farms
problem. Mussolini attempted to solve the prob?
are the retarded methods of cultivation. In the
lems of agriculture by promising it a position as a
modernized national industry, enjoying the spring fields are tilled by men and women walking
bene?
behind bovine-powered single-share plows or swing-
fits of subsidization, reclamation, and education.
ing broad hoes endlessly. When the time for
He promised to overcome low production and even
undertook "the Battle of Wheat" as early as 1925and harvesting comes, power threshing
threshing
when Italy was importing some 30 percent machines
of herand their accompanying separate steam
engines
wheat needs. Later, under the designation, "the may sometimes be seen threshing the
Battle of Agriculture," the program was principal
pursuedcrop. Hand harvesting and threshing
on a wider front, so that by 1936, accordingare moretocommon, however, and are almost in-
Fascist figures, some 70,000,000 acres of land were principal cities and their population are:
2 Apulia's
in agricultural production, and the nation'sFoggia,
reliance 50,000; Molfetta, 45,000; Bari, 164,000; Ta-
on wheat imports was down to 2 or 3 percent of Barletta, 50,000; and Cerignola, 36,000.
ranto, 50,000;
total consumption. What current farm conditions3 Type 13 is a 2-storied structure with a stable
might have been had Mussolini's dreams (sialla),
of astorehouse (maggazzino), kitchen (cucina),
modern agricultural system not been aborted porch (portico),
by and hen roost (pollaio) on the ground
floor and 3 living rooms (camer) on the second. The
the outcome of his war is pure speculation and out?
overall length is about 75 feet and the width 37 feet.
side the province of this article. The fact is that
Such farms often have a cylindrical silo, a draw well.
the southern provinces are today a far cryandfrom the house. Each covers several acres (some -
a baking
Mussolinian dream.
times as many as 30 or 40); each has a principal grain
The province of Apulia may be taken as an crop, a vegetable garden near the house, and a few
example. It ex tends for 225 miles along the fruit trees.

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 122 T. EUGENE BEATTIE

variably industrial cities such

legumes used as Milan. minor
for
and Even where ma? cereal
The cutting is done by
chinery is in scythe or sickle
use, however, the methods are so far a
threshing by flail or the
removed from thetreading of
American concept of anima
"modern"
threshing floor. that one asks at times, "Is this modern Italy?the
Thinking the Fascist
power which farms near
assumed the burden Foggia
of waging modern
war?" To watch
good, despite primitive the "modern" threshing
methods, ma?
I asked a
lish-speaking Italian
chine,there
dependent onabout the
a fire-pit steam engine succe
for
power; to watch
popularity of the Fascist grain being brought fromprogr
agricultural the
that area. This was her
fields reply:
to the place "Prior
of threshing in to F
two-wheeled mule
carts; to see grainwhat
each farmer could produce handled, sacked,
he and stored
wished
it wherever he got awaythe best
by hand is price.
a bit of a novelty Not so
for an American
Fascism under which from the Middle West.
produce?that is, pr
such as grain, nuts, Notwithstanding
legumes, the modem
andequipment
so on?wasavail?
to the State. The able on most large
State thenestates, manual
allowedlabor still a
prevails.
grain ration to each Here again, menthe
family; and women wield
allotme
regardless of output.
mattocksInand hoes
ItaJy
in cultivation,
the sow by
poor
hand, f
always have had to and harvest
get with scythe
along onor sickle. Throughout
little the
enoug
anyway. Needless year
to the landlord the
say, or his overseer may be seenquo
Fascist
grossly inadequate making the
and rounds of the fields.
resulted inIn widespre
his breeches
satisfaction." and coat, with his riding horse or sulky, he stands
Inthe coastal regions south
apart from the peasants overof Cerignola
whom he has jurisdic-
north tion. crops
of Bari, cereal His clothes and manner way
give suggest the toclass fru
vegetables. Orchardscleavageofstill prevalent
olive, in the almond,
provinces of the an
south, as do the differences
trees with small vegetables between between his villa
the and row
extensive vineyardsthewhich in
living quarters of peace time pr
his underMngs.
The roads
part of Italy's exports toalongFrance
the coast are generally
predomingood,
this area of and even in
Apulia, the more inland areas the narrow
cultivation also is
Wooden water country powered
wheels, roads are often well by
gravelled and main?
donkey
mills, provide tained. Journeys where
irrigation for the natives necessar
are slow and
mattocks and hoes serve for cultivation. Herelaborious, however, for in most rural areas and on
the principal highways of the coast the almost
there is a strong attachment of farmers to nearby
towns, so that early in the morning and againuniversal
at means of transportation is the mule-
dusk long caravans of two-wheeled carts anddrawn
bi- two-wheeled cart. Bicycles are in wide-
spread use along the coastal highways, too, but
cycles congest the hard-topped roads as the farm
workers make their way from village homes tothey
and are not used for "freight."
from the fields. In the late summer or early fall, a trip from
West of the main highways from FoggiaApulia
to into Lucania gives a clue to what is to be
Bari are to be found manorial estates which some? expected in the hill country closer to the Apennines.
times cover from 300 to 400 acres. This size is Here farm machinery seems to be nonexistent.
Grain is threshed by flail on a threshing floor;
extremely large when one considers that, according
cultivation is by hoe; and grain is cut, threshed,
to some students, the average pre-war Italian farm
was about 2.5 acres. On these estates several and milled by hand. Grazing is more widespread
than
families share the centralized living quarters in the coastal regions where pastureland is
fur?
nished by the landlord. These quarters scarce.
usuallyFarms are impoverished, and the occu-
pants
are self-sufficient units with silos or grain illiterate and provincial in the extreme.
pits,
stables, a well, a clothes-washing trough,Farms
oftenina the hill areas are small, usually single-
bake house, and sometimes a chapel, for common
family units where human beings, cattle, pigs, and
or community use. Such estates, fer onefowl reason
often share the same quarters. The extent of
or another, more often possess "modern"landholdings
equip? is very small, and one wonders which
ofarea.
ment than do other farm establishments in the the two contestants wins out?the would-be
farmer
As a matter of fact, it is not uncommon or the land.
to see
Araerican-made machinery of the early 1920Household
vint- industries prevail alike in the pro?
vincial hill villages and farms and in the larger
age or native equipment manufactured in northern

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 OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTHERN ITALY 123

cities along the Adriatic coast. Even in the larger

M0NETARY PROBLEMS

cities of Apulia, women and girls can be seen Following the first World War Italy experience
washing, combing, carding, and spinning wool into
inflation. Already in this war, her monetary
yarn. Women still winnow grain and mill it into
system has met at least two strong forces. The
flour for their bread. Boys still operate ropewalks,
first was the worthless money with which the
and men still follow their traditional trades as
Germans flooded the country. The second wa
wheelwrights, shipwrights, shoemakers, and pot-the valuation of Allied military currency at th
ters. In Lucania, toward the mountains where ratio of 1 lira to 1 cent instead of 1 lira to 5 cent
timber is available, the charcoal industry is carriedas before the war.
on both as a household and as a commercial
Money quantities in Italy have been swollen by
enterprise.
the influx of military currency and by the expendi-
Even to the amateur observer in the southern
tures of the G.I., whose rate of pay has been much
provinces there is evidence of the diverse interests
higher than that of most other soldiers in occupied
of the owners of manorial estates and their tenants,
Italy. Suggestive of the magnitude of soldier
of the subsistence problems of the impoverished
expenditures, although by no means indisputable,
f reeholders, and cf the extent of illiteracy and back-
is the statement of a collector that "hundreds of
wardness still prevalent. millions of dollars" have already been spent by
Modern Italian leaders already recognize the souvenir-seeking soldiers overseas. This collector
problems and are taking steps to meet them. Thehas also stated that the principal offenders in the
Italian council of ministers has approved a decreefaked art treasure and souvenir racket have been
designed to ease the burden of tenant farmers. the Germans and the Italians.5 His estimate takes
Under the plan, the production of tenant-cultivated
no account of legitimate expenditures for supplies,
land will be divided so that the farmer will get
rent, and services.
three-fifths of the output and share half of the The flow of money from the pockets of soldiers
outside expenses. Where land productivity is
into the Italian market has put more money in the
above average, the crop allocation is to be madehands of Italians than they ever had previously.
by a regional commission. Provision is made, Money prices and money wages have soared. The
moreover, for the distribution of land now owned
fact that the purchasing power and money wage
by municipalities, universities, and other public increases have been disproportionate (with the bulk
and quasi-public institutions to cooperatives com-of the increases going to shopkeepers and service
posed of the non-landowning farmers. Accordingtrades) makes the poor farm laborer and the vil-
to the United Nations News Service, the plan is lager
a feel more acutely than ever the lack of
temporary one, intended to extend for a year or purchasing power; common laborers in big cities
so after the signing of peace terms with the Allies.4
have felt the pinch as well. The recent discon-
The foregoing decree seems to make no provisiontinuance of further issues of Allied military cur?
for the small farmer who owns his land nor does
rency in Italy should alleviate the problem some?
it seem to make allowance for the fact that the
what as should the increasing amounts which
organization of scattered and illiterate non-land?
soldiers are sending home in various forms of
owning farmers into cooperatives is no small prob?
savings.
lem. In this respect, the plan suffers from some With the peace will arise many money problems.
of the same shortcomings as the Fascist plan under
Allied military currency will have to be withdrawn
which national federations of workers and em? from the market. Native currency will have to be
stabilized. Unless supplies and foods now regu-
ployers were organized into a national agricultural
confederation of a semipublic nature under na? lated by the Allied control commission are con-
trolled by peacetime agencies and unless manu?
tional corporations. It should be noted, too, that
factured goods flow into the country fast enough
the proposai tends to perpetuate existing classes
rather than to eliminate them. It is not likelyto offset the production set-backs caused by the
war-time devastation of the industrial regions of
that the lot of the small farmer will be greatly
improved under the council's plan. northern Italy, there will be strong tendencies for
Italians to bid up the prices of available supplies
*Stars and Stripes (Mediterranean ed.), Oct. 25,
1944. * Ibid., Oct. 31, 1944.

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 124 T. EUGENE BEATTIE

of goods. rettes, gum, candy,

bidding Thisup face soap,
will and other
be products.
stimu
the Motor vehicles,
increased
quantity of airplanes,
moneyclothing, tools, and other
mention
types of military equipment
The competition among Italians of American manu?
with pu
facture
power also will tend to are highly thought of and respected
accelerate the by the
circu
money within Italy Italians.
which The popularity
will,of American
inproducts
turn, in pr
southern Italy
inflationary potential may be due either
similar to to their supe-
increase
riorityis
quantities; especially or tothis
the unavailability
likely of European
to prod?
be tr
light of production ucts. Evidence suggests that both factors
difficulties in are the
period. In addition, of
operative course,
but that there w
the former is the stronger.
complicated fiscalIn problems
prewar days most southern Italians knew
inherent
about Americans and
great war indebtedness andabout American-made
limited prod? nat
ucts through limited
sources. If, as provided byimports, the tourist trade,
internation
Italy is required totextbooks,
payand movies. the
for Today, in costs
remote areas of o
as well as for normal civil
where in peacetime functions
American movies and products du
probably never circulated,
period, the fiscal pattern will therebeare American
further
cated. army camps where movies are shown regularly for
There will be certain
the soldiers andsafety valves
where American products are in wh
properly applied,evidence
should everywhere. In the areas whereuseful
prove Italian
these might be the soldiers are employed in helping
reduction of Americans,
purchasithe
Italians may view the
through the imposition of movies. In the summer,
heavy taxes
when movies
Italy's debts and the comingare shown outdoors,
costs even Italian
of phy
construction. Taxes in
civilians in Italy
some areas have
may see them alwa
from outside
heavy and a burden camp limits.
onIncreasingly,
the people, the Italians are beinghow
to increase the load
won over indiscriminately
to American goods. wo
place an even heavier financial
It is impossible to tell how much of theburden
present
"little" man. desire of southern Italians for American goods will
A second safety valve could be the sensible remain as permanent demand in the postwar
withdrawal of Allied military currency from circu? period. It seems reasonable to assume, however,
lation after American troops have withdrawn. that the advantages of such goods which the
This currency withdrawal might be by gradual Italians already have enjoyed for more than a year
redemption in cooperation with the Italian bankingwill not be forgotten at once. It seems reasonable,
system. An immediate and total lira-for-lira re?moreover, that some of the immediate consumption
demption would enhance inflationary possibilities desires will remain as permanent postwar demand.
while outright repudiation would be a serious blowWhen American troops leave Italy and when the
to Italian faith and morale and an overwhelmingflow of goods from America is cut off or sharply
loss to those whose wartime activity has nettedreduced, the Italians of the southern provinces may
large earnings in exchange for goods and services.continue to expect and demand the import of
A third post-war safety measure might be the American products. If this expectation does not
creation of economic controls in the form of re? occur, then there may at least be a more critical
gional commissions designed to ration available attitude among southern Italians toward products
supplies of goods, to regulate prices and production, of Italian manufacture now that the natives have
to ailocate labor, and to negotiate contracts for thebeen introduced to American standards on a fairly
reconstruction of native business. large scale, Consequently, there may be not only
new markets for American manufacturers and ex-
NEW ASPECTS OF DEMAND
porters but also improvements in the standards of
During the Allied occupation of southern Italy, and marketing.
Italian production
a great and unintentional advertising campaign hashas been pretty well torn up by
Northern Italy
been carried out which has created new consumer the war. Many cities have been totally destroyed;
desires among Italians. The flow of American power plants have been made inoperative; bridges
goods into Italian hands as tips and gifts and have been blasted; and factories have been ruined.
through the black market has placed a premiumThis means that northern Italy which, in the past,
on American products. Highly regarded by Ital?was the country's chief source of domestic manu?
ians, even in the provincial hill country, are ciga-facturing no longer will be capable of producing in

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 OBSERVATIONS ON SOUTHERN ITALY 125

substantial amounts until afterinreconstruction.

some instances, have engaged in political de
Even the northern plants which strations,
may remainorderly and well controlled.
intact
Many months
will be faced with problems of adaptation andagore-I asked a teen-age boy i
conversion. Naples, which was one Adriatic cityleading
of the what sort of political system
favored.
industrial cities in southern Italy beforeHethe
replied
war,that he favored commun
as did his
also will require substantial industrial parents. "What do you mean by c
reconstruc?
munism?"
tion and reconversion before consumer I asked.
goods can "Why democracy!" he s
be produced in peace time. "Just like you have in America!"
The United Nations, and especiallySome the
persons maintain that people in the so
Ameri-
ern provinces
cas, can expect a call for help from Italy whenlean the
toward the communistic sy
task of rebuilding comes. Italian industry
because will of city existence can be
the exigencies
overcome
need steel, equipment, tools, supplies, by capital,
and collective action than otherwise,
some state
as well as the assistance of capable that the comments for democracy
engineers.
Furthermore, until such time as Italian
often industry
expressions of expediency designed to get
favor of
is put back on its feet, Italy either soldiers.
will haveThe to combined desire for com
look to the United Nations for most offor
munism her manu?and democracy for expedi
existence
such persons
factured goods or will have to struggle alongsay, may explain why the two poli
with?
out them until her own industriesdoctrines are linked with each other in the m
are in production
again. In either case complicatedof southern
problemsItalians.
will
arise. In the first is involved the It is impossible
problem of im? to say how many vestige
Fascismthemselves,
porting goods from countries which, remain imbedded in the minds of Ita
in the south. There
will be faced with problems of reconversion andis some
theevidence of Fascist
meeting of pent-up consumer leanings in former strongholds
and industrial de? of Fascism, and
mand; in the second, comes the some natives insistof
problem thatex-
a strong spirit of Fascism
porting to a nation lacking immediate still lies under the surface.
funds for Among members of
payment. Loans of money, lend-lease, the Italian armyor one both
can hear comments in defense
may be a possible solution. of Mussolini, and some regiments still count
marching cadencc by repetition of the words,
THE POLITICAL SCENE
"Duce, Fascisti"?a habit formed long ago and one
In the provinces of Apulia, Lucania, and Cam-
repeated automatically without meaning. If one
pania are many political bents and confused
tries to pick con?up Fascist souvenirs in Apulia, he
cepts. While in cities like Naples,may political
be able to buy coins, buttons, and the like.
interests exist and are nurtured by Let such himpubli?
try to get a Fascist membership card or
cations as La voce, a socialist and communist
other paperorgan
evidence of Fascist afliliation, however,
with a circulation of 70,000, it is safeand
to hesay that
is told that all such material was destroyed
most of the southern peasants have few, at the iftime any,
Italy signed the armistice with the
political convictions. They are removed UnitedfromNations. Sometimes one finds expressions
most normal news channels; they are amongtoo busy
Italians that Mussolini and his party broke
grubbing a livelihood out of the soil tofaith
give serious
with their fellow countrymen.
Nowso
thought to politics, and they have been and then there come to the surface evi-
long
removed from active political participation
dences of that
tension between the communist party
they have few vestiges of political initiative.
and the socialist party. Much dissension arose
Even in the larger cities of Apulia between
and other
them after WorJd Wrar I, but currently
provinces, political concepts seem confused. There
they have a working agreement in occupied Italy.
appears to be a propensity to think ofFrom
democracy
time to time there has also been dissension
and communism as similar political ideologies and
between the democratic party which favors mon-
to classify the leaders of the three principal United
archism and the republican party which opposes it.
Nations as proponents of the same systems of
After the war, there will have to be some permanent
liberty. It was a common practice some months
reconciliation among the several existing political
ago to paint political slcgans and symbols on build?
ings and walls, but more recently thisparties if civil
activity hasdisorder is to be averted.
In the postwar
declined. Citizens of certain cities, moreover, have period also should come a re-
worn lapel buttons with hammer andeducation of the youths who have been indoc-
sickle and,

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 126 G. E. FUSSELL

trinated with Fascist beliefs

CONCLUSIONS since e
So far as the rural
Prospectssouthern prov
for postwar Italy suggest problems
cerned, similar to thoseon
the populace which followed
farms World War I.prob
These any
with resignation problems, while difficult, are not insur-
political set-
mountable although
evolve. The primary they probably will involve
sources of in
some forms of aid from the United Nations, which
likely to be once more?as in It
today are following a wise policy of hands off on
intellectuals, the landed classes, an
political parties, of aid in meeting civilian eco?
which, under Fascism, rose to pol
nomic needs, and of alertness to present and future
nomic power and prestige.
national problems.

HISTORY AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

G. E. FUSSELL

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, London, England

The value of historical research in connection

record of what was done in each year and the
with any particular industry has been constantly
effect upon the crop. In the grassland experi?
questioned.1 This is partly the result of looking
ments, wThich have been carried out and recorded
at history as a fiction having little more realatrela?
Cockle Park since 1897, and which have resulted
tion to our lives than a story or novel and partly
in the discovery of the best manures for grass to
the result of imagining that the methods we benow
used in characteristic soils in the county of
adopt are the only possible methods. Why should
Northumberland, the scientific knowledge was ob?
any interest be taken in methods that havetained
been from the story of the work and its results.
superseded when it is incredible that we shouldAgricultural development in England, as in
ever dream of returning to them? How can it
continental countries, is inextricably bound up
benefit us to know such methods or their produc?
with the system of land tenure. Until the en?
tive results? The present, however, has its closures
roots had taken place, it was not possible
in the past, and the relation between the past
to and
apply to agriculture the slight but increasing
the present in agricultural science is as clearly
measure of scientific knowledge that was obtained
marked as it is in any other. Actually, of course,
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It
history is merely a statement of what haswas hap-
only in those districts where large farms held
pened in the past, recent or remote. It may be
in severalty had become commonplace that people
the history of yesterday, or it may be the history
were able to introduce the new crop rotation, to
of old times.
use artificial grass, and to cultivate roots. Upon
The scientific value of the classical experiments
the smaller and mixed holdings in the common
at Rothamsted is universally known and admired,
fields traditional implements were used, and the
and, in point of fact, these experiments aretraditional
little rotation was followed because the pace
more than the story of the system of cropping of development was necessarily that of the slowest
continuously carried out for a period of yearsandand
most backward member of the community.
recorded. Some of the most interesting and valu?The enthusiasm for agriculture which marked the
able of the results are admitted to be due toeighteenth
the century in England culminated in the
long continuance of these experiments, although
enclosure movement at its end. The movement
at their inception no such plan was formulated.2
was instigated by men who were anxious to utilize
Science in this case is entirely historical. It
theisnew
a knowledge and who could not adopt it on
farms split up into small sections distributed in the
1 This article appears with the same title in Science
common fields. Their efforts would have been
Progress, 19:504-506 (January 1925). It is here printed
with the permission of the author.?Editor. negatived by the bad cultivation of their neighbors.
2 See Sir E. John Russell, "Rothamsted and The
Its work of enclosure, which had been going on
slowly, was greatly accelerated, and the possession
Experiment Station," Agricidtural History, 16:161-183
(October 1942). of the new holdings in severalty necessarily per-

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