AGONIS to subjugate the people, as it were, by the strength of their arguments. TICI AGOWS. AGONOTHETES, were the officers who sat as umpires at the Grecian games. They took care that the contests should be performed according to custom; settled all disputes which arose; and decided to whom the prizes should be awarded. AGONOUS (a priv. yovos, offspring), in Botany, barren, not producing seed or fruit. It was applied by Hippocrates to barren women. AGONNA, or AGOON A, a district or kingdom, on the Gold coast of Africa; extending about 20 miles eastward from Acron to the frontiers of the kingdom of Aquamboe. The climate of this district is said to be more salubrious than in most other parts of the coast; but the late predatory excursions and inroads of the Ashantees, who are, it is believed, still pursuing their conquests along the coast, have greatly reduced the population of Agonna. The natives, perhaps, about nine or ten thousand in number, carry on a trade with various tribes of the interior, and with a few Europeans, in gold. The district contains some good towns, of which the chief are, Agoona, Winnebah, Fattah, and Beracoe. At Winnebah is a small English fort, but Beracoe is the most considerable town of this district; and here the Dutch have a fort, mounting 12 pieces of cannon. AGONYCLITÆ, or AGONYCLITES (from a, yovv, knee, and kλvw, to bend), in Ecclesiastical History, a sect in the 7th century, who held it improper to bend the knee, and whose practice it was to perform their devotions in a standing posture. AGORÆUS, in Ancient Mythology, one of the names of Mercury (ayopa, a market), from statues of this god being frequently to be found in market places. AĞO'OD, a. In good. In Shakespeare;-In good earnest. And at that time, I made her weepe agood, Shakespeare. Two Gent. Ver. act iv. sc. 4. AGORANOMI, in Ancient Customs, were magistrates appointed at Athens to overlook the markets and prevent frauds. Some make their number ten, and assign five to Athens and five to the harbour, Piræus. Others say there were fifteen, and that ten were employed at Athens and five at the Piræus. A certain toll was allowed them of whatever was brought to market. AGOWS, an ancient and very remarkable people of Abyssinia, inhabiting a province bounded by the mountains Amid Amid, on the E. by Buré, Umbarma, and the Gongas on the W.; by Damot and Gafat on the S. and by Dingleber on the N. This district, though not very extensive, being only about 60 miles in length, and not more than half that number in breadth, is extremely rich and populous. The Agows are able, in time of war, to bring into the field an army of 4000 cavalry, and a much greater force of infantry. The Tcheretz Agows, a distinct tribe, inhabit a district N. of the river Tacazze. These tribes are shorter and stouter, though not so active as the rest of the Abyssinians, and but partially subdued to the kings of that country. It was not till the 17th century that any portion of this people were emancipated from the shackles of Paganism. Before that time, they were universally worshippers of the Nile, and a great portion of them still observe a religious festival an- AGO nually, on the appearance of the dog-star, in honour of the genius of the Nile; at which they sacrifice a AGR black heifer, eat the carcase raw, drinking with it the waters of the Nile, and burning the bones to ashes. The head is then carried into a cavern, said to reach below the springs of the river, and various mysterious ceremonies performed there. Such of them as have listened to the calls of the Christian doctrine have become more than ordinarily zealous in the practice and profession of Christianity. They principally adhere to an independent sect of Christians, called Christians of St. Thomas, of whom there are great numbers in other parts of Abyssinia. Their trade is very extensive, and is carried on chiefly in cattle, wheat, honey, butter, hides, and wax, with which they supply the surrounding districts and provinces, particularly Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia. From 1000 to 1500 at a time come in succession to Gondar, loaded with the produce of their industry. They have thus often to traverse several extensive plains, above 100 miles at a time, under a cloudless sky and a vertical sun, loaded with immense quantities of butter, which they preserve from melting or putrefaction by the root of a herb called mocmoco, which they bruise and mix up, in small quantities, with their butter, by which it is kept fresh for a considerable time. These people differ in many particulars from the other Abyssinians, besides in those which have already been mentioned. They dress in a kind of soft leather, being the skins of beasts manufactured in a manner unknown to the other tribes. Their dress consists of a long gown or shirt, fastened about the waist by a belt, and reaching down to their feet. Their houses, for the most part, are in groups, or small collections, and to almost every one of these there is a kind of subterranean vault, or cave dug behind it. In these caves they occasionally reside; a custom which probably had its origin in the ancient practice of troglodytism; though it does not appear that the Abyssinians generally ever had any occasion to dwell in caves, from fear either of invading enemies or of persecution. females among these tribes arrive at the age of puberty very early in life, being frequently married and bearing children as early as eleven years of age, and generally ceasing to do so before thirty. Their language also is described by Mr. Salt as differing very much from the common dialects of Abyssinia. That intelligent traveller represents it as not unlike in its sound to some of our own provincial dialects. They are sometimes spoken of by travellers as divided into two tribes, the Tcheratz Agows, from Tchera, a town and district near Lasta and Bergemder, and the Agows of Damot. The AGRA, in Ancient Geography, a place on the banks of Ilissus, near Athens, where the lesser Eleusinian mysteries were celebrated. Here was a temple to Diana, who was surnamed Agræa; and the beauty of the spot induced Plato to make it the scene of his Phædrus. AGRA, a very extensive province of Hindostan, being about 250 miles in length, and 180 in breadth, and containing, besides the fortress of Gualior, several cities and towns of considerable importance. It is bounded on the N. by the province of Delhi; by Malwaff on the S.; by Oude and Allahabad, on the E.; and by Ajmeer on the W. It is watered by the rivers Ganges, Juina, and Chumbul; and is, for the AN AGRA. most part, under the government of the British. It contains thirteen circars or counties, subdivided into GRARI- 200 hundreds, or pergunnahs, 40 large towns, and 340 villages. Its products are sugar, indigo, Indian corn, with some marble and copper. The city of AGRA, called by Mahometans Akbarabad, is the capital and the chief seat of the British government. This city stands on the S.W. banks of the Jumna, and was originally only a village; but having been greatly enlarged by the Emperor Sekunder Lody, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, it received the appellation and honours of an imperial city, at that time called Badulghur. About fifty years after its foundation the Emperor Akbar erected a magnificent palace here, and gave the city his own name, which name it retained till it received its present one of Agra. When the Emperor Shah Jehau, A. D. 1647, chose the city of Dehli for his capital, Agra became greatly reduced in importance; and afterwards, when the restless Aurungzebe assumed the crown of Mysore, he converted the city and palace of Agra into a prison for his father. The reader will find the details of this emperor's proceedings amply treated in the recent History of the South of India, by Lieut. Col. Mark Wilks. The houses, which are built of stone, are very lofty, but are in a ruinous state, and the streets are extremely narrow. On the opposite side of the river Jumna, is one of the most stately mausoleums in the world. It was built by Sha Jehau, for the cemetery of his wife, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of 750,000l. sterling. It is constructed of white marble, and is inlaid with several precious stones. In the year 1784 Agra was seized by the Mahratta chief Madajee Sindia; by whom, it seems, it was held until the year 1803, when was taken by the troops of the East-India company, under the command of Lord Lake. The ancient castle and palace, though now much reduced from their former greatness, deserve particular notice. There are several inferior palaces, standing in a line contiguous to the principal one. These were formerly Occupied by great lords and others attached to the imperial court. This city abounds in public baths, caravansaries, and mosques, and some of them of considerable extent. The indigo of the subah, or province, of which this city was the capital, is reckoned superior in quality to any other produced in the East Indies; besides which, there are several manufactures of gold and silver lace, silk, and fine cotton goods. ÄGRAMED'. AS. Lлýmman, sævire, fremere. To rage, to roar. AGRARIAN LAWS, in Roman Antiquity, laws which AGRARIhad for their object the equal distribution, among the citizens, of the lands which fell to Rome by conquest. As all the territory in Italy and elsewhere, which the Romans held, had become their's by the rights of war, and as the Patricians had possessed themselves of large tracts of land in this way, it met from them the most strenuous opposition; and being a measure which would give a great accession of wealth and political importance to the commons, it became the subject of violent contests between the nobles and the people in general. The first Agrarian law was proposed by the Consul Sp. Cassius, v.c. 267; but by artfully representing to the commons that his aim was the subversion of liberty, the Patricians effected his ruin. LIVY, .i. c. 41. Many laws for the division of conquered countries, or the limitation of the quantity of land an individual should possess, were afterwards proposed; among which were the Lex Licinia, forbidding any one to possess more than 500 acres, whose author was the first that incurred the penalty. This was passed v. c. 386; the Lex Flaminia, v. c. 525; Lex Sempronia Prima, u.c. 620, and Secunda, in the same year; Lex Cornelia, v.c. 673; Lex Servilia, v. c. 690; Lex Julia, U. c. 691. The tribunes of the people frequently brought forward the topic of the Agrarian laws as a means of lessening the power of the Patricians, and of commending themselves to those who had elected them. Thus Rullus proposed a law of this kind, which was prevented from passing by Cicero. Vide Orat. de lege Agraria. AGREDA, a city of South America, province of AGREE ABILITIE, AGREEABLE, AGREE ABLENESS, AGREEABLY, AGREED', AGREEING, AGREE INGLY, AGREEMENT. Fr. Agréer, Grè. From Gratum, says Menage. To accord, to suit, to concur, to please; to become friends. Agree is used by Chaucer, adverbially. Douglas, book viii. p. 250. Kepeth this child, al be it foule or faire, Chaucer. The Man of Lawes Tale, vol. i. p. 209 AN. AGREE. AGREE. AGRI Then it is well seen, how wretched is the blisfulnesse of mortall things that neither it dureth perpetuell with hem, that euery fortune receiuen agreeably or egally, ne it deliteth not in all to hem that CULTU- ben anguishous. Chaucer. Boecius, book ii. fol. 218. col. 1. RAL This house [Symon's in Bethany] preseteth vnto vs, the agreyng, IMPLE- and frendely felowshyp of the church; the which beyng vncleane, MENTS. he washed and purified with his precious bloude. Udall. Mark, c. xiv. fol. 84. c. 1. And thus the couenaunt that ye made wt death, shall be disannulled: and your agrement that ye made with hell, shall not stande. Bible, 1539. Isaiah, c. xxviii. For my spirite agreeth not with the spirite of this worlde, and my They chanc't upon an hill not farne away, Jewel's Defence of the Apologie. Thus one by one, kindling each other's fire Daniel. Civil War, book iii. The primates had authoritie ouer other inferiour bishops I graunte: they had so. How be it, thei had it by agreemente, and custome: But neither by Christe, nor by Peter or Paule, nor by any righte of Goddes worde. Jewel's Defence of the Apologie. Men take words to be the constant regular marks of agreed notions, which in truth are no more but the voluntary and unsteady signs of their own ideas. Locke's Essay on Human Understanding. As nothing that is agreeable to us can be painful at the same time, and as such; nor any thing disagreeable pleasant, by the terms; so neither can any thing agreeable be for that reason (because it is agreeable) not pleasant, nor any thing disagreeable not painful, in some measure or other. Wollaston's Religion of Nature. Agreeingly to which, St. Austin, disputing against the Donatists, contendeth most earnestly. Sheldon. On the Miracles of Antichrist. AGRI CULTU RAL Mr. Locke observes, the names of a species denotes those qualities wherein a set of individuals agree selected from those wherein IMPLE they may differ. Tucker's Light of Nature. The motives which the heathens had to the practice of their duty, were generally drawn by their best authors on this subject, from the agreeableness of virtuous actions to human nature, and from the advantage and necessity of them to society. Pearce's Sermons. What would I not give, to have you read Demosthenes critically Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. In short, so provoking a devil was Dick, Goldsmith. Retaliation. AGREVE, ST., the principal town in a canton of the modern department of the Ardèche, arrondissement of Tournon, in France. It contains upwards of 2500 inhabitants; is 74 leagues N. W. of Privas, and stands at the foot of the mountains in Vivarais. AGRIANES, a river of Thrace, mentioned by Herodotus, which gave name to a people of the neighbourhood. A'GRICULTURE, n. AGRICULTURAL, AGRICULTURIST. Ager; a field: colo, cultum. The culture or tillage of land. Trade wields the sword, and agriculture leaves Young. Reflections on the Kingdom. Mechanic arts, as agriculture, manufactures, &c. will indeed be discouraged, where the profits and property are, from the nature of the government, insecure. Chesterfield. Letter clxxvi. By giving a sort of monopoly of the home imarket to its own merchants, artificers, and manufacturers, it raises the rate of mercantile and manufacturing profit, in proportion to that of agricultural profit; and, consequently, draws from agriculture a part of the capital which had before been employed in it. Smith's Wealth of Nations. MENT AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. Among the various directions of modern science its application to agricultural pursuits is most important. Some branches of study are rather curious than useful, and others are so purely intellectual as to be adapted to the understanding of only a small portion of mankind; but the science of Agriculture must be in all countries, and all ages of the world, the first in practical utility. We shall not hesitate to assign to AGRICULTURE that extended consideration, in this work, which we conceive it to demand:-amongst the Applied Sciences, its principles as a science, and its rules as an art, will come under review. Our design in the present paper is more strictly practical-to give a sketch of the history of those essential and preparatory IMPLEMENTS which are used for the cultivation of the ground. Upon these so much attention has been bestowed in modern times, that to describe them, in a regular treatise on the science, might require a disproportionate space. We do not here, however, think it necessary to describe all the varieties of implements of any one kind. For if we were to instance only the plough, the RAL MPLEIENTS. AGRI- first and most simple implement in its origin, and carry ELTU- our speculations to all the improvements and various species of this useful machine, we might find matter for a long treatise. Still the various alterations in their parts, with a view to lightness of draught, cheapness and durability of construction, and excellence of workmanship, are subjects of importance, and must be noticed, so far as they tend to adapt the implement to the working of different soils with advantage. §. 1 Of the plough. RAL IMPLE share is made to thicken from its cutting edge in the e plough. The plough is an implement, which was originally There is not, perhaps, any human invention that more highly merits our utmost endeavours to bring it to perfection, than this simple and useful machine. It has been, however, neglected by some persons who have devoted their attention to machinery, as a rude tool, unworthy of regard; hastily conceiving that any instrument may accomplish the clumsy task of turning up the ground; and that there cannot be much accuracy required in a business which is successfully performed by the ignorant peasant. Others acknowledge the value of the implement, and the difficulty of adapting it to various soils; but they think that difficulty insuperable, because the operation is in some measure complicated, and the resistances to be overcome so uncertain, or so little understood. Hence they have concluded, that little of unequivocal principle can be connected with the instrument, and that we must look for improvement only from experience or chance. The operations of the plough are accomplished not by digging, but by its being pulled along. It does not therefore reduce the ground to that friable and uniform state into which we can bring it with a spade, but it so far effects the same object, that the ordinary operations of the seasons will complete the task. For this purpose the plough is furnished with parts to penetrate the ground, and cut away a slice, or sod, from the firm land. This sod must be removed to one side, that the plough and the ploughman may proceed in their labour; the sod must be turned over, so that the grass and stubble may be buried and rot, and that fresh soil may be brought to the surface; and the whole must be left in such a loose and open condition, that it may easily crumble down, by the influence of the weather, without baking into lumps, or retaining water. Those parts. parts of a plough which cut the ground are called the coulter, and the share (see plate II). The coulter is a large knife, which cuts in a vertical plane, making a simple incision in the earth. The share, which follows after the coulter, is sharp at the point, and cuts in an horizontal plane, in order to undercut that portion of the earth which is already severed laterally from the adjoining land by the coulter; this portion of earth is called the sod. As the share advances, its edge passes horizontally under the sod, lifts it up, and forces it away from the solid land; for this purpose the are required to cut a sod and turn it over. That side Plate II. Having given a general idea of the essential parts of Ploughs of SWING PLOUGHS.--The Rotherham plough, see The RAL IMPLE AGRI- lower ends of these are again mortised into an horizonCULTU- tal piece of wood called the sole, or sock, and to this the share, or head, is fixed, so that its point and cutting edge MENTS. projects forwards. The lower side of the sole is flat, and is plated with iron; the share is fixed to the sole, so that it can be readily removed to sharpen it; the mouldboard is firmly fixed to the inclined pieces which support the sole, and the most advanced part of the mouldboard forms an inclined edge, which is called the breast of the plough. Two handles are fixed behind the plough, one of them receives a tenon at the end of the beam, and the lower end enters a mortise in the hinder part of the sole; the other handle is fixed at the side behind the mould-board and is steadied by two braces. The Dutch plough is another name for the Rotherham plough, as it is supposed to have been brought originally from Holland. Various other ploughs. Wheel ploughs. The Scotch swing plough is very similar to the Rotherham plough, except some slight difference in the curvature of the beam and in the form of the mouldboard, which very little affects its operations. It is also sometimes called the Berwickshire plough. Small's plough is a swing plough, like the Scotch plough, only an oblique brace is applied from the beam to the coulter, to hold it firm at the required angle. This plough takes its name from the author of a Treatise on Plough-Making, published in 1784; in which he lays down rules for the proportions of its parts. It is also called the chain plough, because a chain is extended from the rack at the end of the beam, to a hook near the coulter, and thus strengthens the beam. The Argyleshire plough is a simple swing plough; and the only variation from what we have already described is, that it acts without a coulter; instead of which, a large flat plate is fixed to the share, in a vertical plane, corresponding with the land side of the plough; and the advanced edge of this is sharpened to cut the ground. The object of this change is to remove the resistance necessary to make the vertical incision farther back from the point of draft, than if a coulter were used; and also to avoid the choaking of the plough by weeds and rubbish, which sometimes lodge before the coulter, beneath the beam. The Argyleshire plough has a rod of iron in place of the chain of the chain plough, to strengthen the beam; it is attached at one end to the middle of the beam, and connected at the other end with the rack from which the horses draw. In some ploughs two iron rods are used, and they extend quite to the end of the beam, and are attached to a hook near the handles. WHEEL PLOUGHS.-When one or two wheels are applied at the foremost extremity of the beam of a plough it proceeds in its work very steadily, and may be managed by a less skilful ploughman. Wheels seem to have been applied from a want of expertness in the ploughman, and are no way necessary in lands which are of an uniform texture; but in stony and uneven land, wheels will prevent the plough from being put out of its course by small obstructions. It is a very common fault of ploughmen who work wheel ploughs, to set the point of the share so that it continually tends to go deeper into the earth, and to depend upon the wheels to bear up the beam in opposition to this tendency. An indolent ploughman can thus rest himself by bearing part of his weight on the handles, and in this way the plough works very steadily, but with a great increase of draft, RAI IMPI for the ploughman spares himself at the expence of his AGR cattle: with a swing plough this cannot be done. CUL Some ploughs, instead of a wheel in front, have only a perpendicular iron stem fixed to the beam, with a knob MEN or foot at the lower end to slide along the ground as the plough advances, and bear up the end of the beam ; but this is an awkward substitute for the wheel, and works with great friction. The comparative properties and advantages of wheel and swing ploughs demand a few remarks. A plough which goes in front upon wheels, must be impelled by a smaller force than one which goes upon a sliding foot; but the degree of this will depend upon the dip of the share, and the force with which the implement is inclined to enter the ground. A swing plough, with neither foot nor wheel, will go still easier, and be the complete implement, because its construction ensures that it shall be set to go level at a certain depth, or at least it has so moderate an inclination to dip that it is easily balanced by the ploughman; whereas the wheel and foot ploughs are commonly set so that they would plunge themselves up to the beam in a free soil, if not supported in front. This being the case, it will appear very natural that wheel and foot ploughs should have been adopted on light and deep soils where the draft was easy, and others on stiff and heavy land. Sir John Sinclair observes, in his Code of Agriculture, that neither good mechanics nor able ploughmen can ever become numerous, while their ignorance or their unskilfulness can be so easily remedied, as by adding wheels to the plough. Owing to these objections, wherever attentive and expert ploughmen can be had, wheel ploughs have been given up, as expensive and cumbersome. In setting a wheel plough to work, the same care should be used as in a swing plough to adjust the point of draft, so that the beam shall not bear any weight upon the wheel, unless some obstruction, as a root, or a stone, tend to divert the plough from its course, when it will soon recover itself again, but a swing plough requires a greater effort of the workman to recover its course. The simple wheel plough.-The most obvious mode of applying a single wheel to any plough, is to make an iron axle to the wheel, with a stem bent up from it in a perpendicular direction; this stem being fitted in a mortise through the beam, in the same manner as the coulter, it can be fastened therein by wedges or cross pins so as to admit of supporting the beam at any required height; a wheel of this kind may be applied to any swing plough when it is found necessary; and if two wheels are required, each one may have a separate stem in order to place them at different heights, and adapt one wheel to run upon the solid land, whilst the other runs in the furrow; but when two wheels are required, it is better to place the wheels at the opposite ends of a strong iron or wooden axletree; to the middle of this axletree a stem is jointed, and the stem is made to pass through a mortise in the end of the beam of the plough: this is called the plough carriage. The Old Norfolk plough is shown in plate II. The fore end of the beam of this plough is elevated very much, and is supported in the carriage, which consists of two wheels and an axletree, with two upright stems of wood erected upon it to receive the plough-beam between them; the beam bears upon the bolster, which |