at of the Indians in the United States in 1825, subsidized
moreover by the government, 1-1/4 square miles.[111]

[Sidenote: Land in relation to agriculture.]

With transition to the sedentary life of agriculture, society makes a
further gain over nomadism in the closer integration of its social
units, due to permanent residence in larger and more complex groups; in
the continuous release of labor from the task of mere food-getting for
higher activities, resulting especially in the rapid evolution of the
home; and finally in the more elaborate organization in the use of the
land, leading to economic differentiation of different localities and
to a rapid increase in the population supported by a given area, so that
the land becomes the dominant cohesive force in society. [See maps pages
8 and 9.]

[Sidenote: Migratory agriculture]

Agriculture is adopted at first on a small scale as an adjunct to the
chase or herding. It tends therefore to partake of the same extensive
and nomadic character[112] as these other methods of gaining subsistence,
and only gradually becomes sedentary and intensive. Such was the
superficial, migratory tillage of most American Indians, shifting with
the village in the wake of the retreating game or in search of fresh
unexhausted soil. Such is the agriculture of the primitive Korkus in the
Mahadeo Hills in Central India. They clear a forested slope by burning;
rake over the ashes in which they sow their grain, and reap a fairly
good crop in the fertilized soil. The second year the clearing yields a
reduced product and the third year is abandoned. When the hamlet of five
or six families has exhausted all the land about it, it moves to a new
spot to repeat the process.[113]

The same superficial, extensive tillage, with abandonment of fields
every few years, prevails in the Tartar districts of the Russian
steppes, as it did among the cattle-raising Germans at the beginning of
their history. Tacitus says of them, _Arva per annos mutant et superest
ager_,[114] commenting at the same time upon their abundance of land and
their reluctance to till. Where nomadism is made imperative by aridity,
the agriculture which accompanies it tends to become fixed, owing to the
few localities blessed with an irrigating stream to moisten the soil.
These spots, generally selected for the winter residence, have their
soil enriched, moreover, by the long stay of the herd and thus avoid
exhaustion.[115] Often, howeve