Fruitlands Failure

From the early prehistoric society until now, we often heard the word “adaptation”, which means the process of changing something or changing our behavior to deal with new situations. The ways people adjust their natural environment varies according to time, place, and tribe. Foraging is common way of adaptation that people uses for most of human history; however because of the population pressure, some people adopt agriculture to fulfill their need. This essay, will discuss the positive and negative aspects of life in hunting and gathering societies compared to the agricultural societies based on Martin Harris’ article “Murders in Eden” and Jared Diamond’s article “The Worst Mistake in the History of Human Race.”

Abbey detests the lives we lead, particularly in the city. A life in which we heavily rely on invented technologies for our convenience. He especially criticizes how the “development” of nature sites in general, or for the mere reason to serve the people and accommodate the people’s “needs” in the wild. It is for this reason that Abbey craves to live outside of the society’s influence and rule, and to live out on one’s own in solitude. The wilderness gives him a sense of freedom and offers him a refuge from humanity’s cultural dependency on the ever-constant development of technology. To him, it is a shame, and even a sin to life, to see humanity consuming and exploiting the very thing that sustains us:

To begin with, the modern-day farmer faces many of the same struggles as the nineteenth century farmers in Hamlin Garland's "Under the Lion's Paw." -1 For instance, even with technological advances and time saving equipment, the farmers of today still perform difficult labor with long hours much the same as the farmers of yesterday. In “Under the Lion’s Paw,” Garland's farming family “rose early and toiled without intermission till the darkness fell on the plain, then tumbled into bed, every bone and muscle aching with fatigue, to rise with the sun next morning to the same round of the same ferocity of labor” ( ). The nature of farming demands the same strenuous cycle of Present-day farmers.-3

Farming, I learned, has an enormous impact on the growth of civilization. So much so, that Diamond spends seven chapters on the control food had over how successful a certain region became. Animals are integral to the success of human beings and that is why the shift from hunting-gathering to farming and domestication

Farmers were limited

He reveals that in order to become a more complex and advanced society civilizations needed to farm. He recalls a time in Montana where he was doing farm work when an Indian man named Levi had gotten drunk and scolded the owner of the land, Fred Hirschy.” Levis tribe of hunters and famous warriors had been robbed of its lands by immigrant white farmers”. Since farming allows society to consistently have sources of calories and protein instead of spending a majority of time wasted on a possible meals. Hunter-gatherers relied on finding animals as their food which took time, and didn’t allow them to develop technologies as quickly as farmers who had guaranteed food

If the book could be summarized in a few sentences the following quote would suffice, “As to farming matters, I was certainly not one of those who like to throw themselves into novelties and expenses without knowing what the result might be; but when I was convinced of the superiority of a tool I adopted it without delay. “ This quote not only summarizes the book and the lifestyle of this era, but is also an eye opener of the great differences between the past and present. Tiennon, the main character of the novel speaks volumes of the conservative, but altogether practical attitude during this timeframe for all the town folk. From 1823 to the turn of the 20th century, Tiennon’s life period, and beyond the late 20th century (1970s), more changes

Thomas Coke was a British agricultural reformer. He had discovered new and inventive ways to control the land he owned. Thomas Coke was the inventor of a new breed of sheep he made by mixing the Norfolk sheep and the English Leicester which Thomas was a fan of. He also had been working on improving himself in grasses and husbandry. Thomas Coke had been a great help to the English farming life. He had made things easier and had new ideas that he had come up with. It is no wonder why Coke was very helpful; he after all had though that there was the landowner’s obligation to make the land they owned easier and better for their tenants to farm the land. With his farming ideas and land buying helping both him and the tenants he had also helped the

They had to live a simple life doing labor and work to grow food. No one was allowed to eat or use any animal products because they were vegetarian. Bronson Alcott also said that to enter the utopia you had to have self denial. History of Fruitlands and English Reformers says” In theory, the membership of Fruitlands was composed of a spiritually elite. "The entrance to paradise is till through the strait and narrow gate of self-denial," Alcott wrote just before the community began. He continued, "Eden's avenue is yet guarded by the fiery-sworded cherubim, and humility and charity are the credentials for admission (Boller, 126)." Alcott wanted everything to be like the Garden of Eden where everything was perfect and

They all make there way to a farm and decide that it would be best to stay there. There time at the farm is not how they would have wanted things to be. They philosophize a great deal, and are very inactive. Candide says, “We must cultivate our own garden (Voltaire, p. 88).” They decide to tend their own garden. Each and every one of them exercised their own talents in the garden and together they change from philosophizing to activity, which gives them some relief and happiness. Pangloss points out that this garden is like the Garden of Eden. He says, “For when man was placed in the Garden of Eden, he was placed there ut operaretur eum – that he might work – which proves that man was not born to rest (Voltaire, p. 88).” This garden is an important symbol in the book. Not only does it provide them with relaxation and takes their mind off things, but it also “reflects a change of character and a new start for Candid (Shmoop).” This garden reflects the thought that happiness cannot be found in

“The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.” (Arthur Keith)

Agriculture researchers understood that the normal individuals needed to unite to be more effective. The lower class needy individuals of the time did not care for fenced in area in light of the fact that regular rights were imperative to them. The area owning nobles would not have liked to implement the thought either in light of the fact that it required substantial speculations. The substantial lawful and looking over expenses of enclosure were additionally isolated among the general population, workers had paid the expense and landless cottagers lost access to normal fields. The tenement farmers, who had some time ago been free proprietors, were the way to mastering the new systems for cultivating, on the grounds that the tenement farmers fenced fields, assembled depletes, and enhanced the dirt with composts, expanding livelihood opportunities. By disposing of basic rights and incredibly diminishing the entrance, the fenced in area development denoted the finishing of two noteworthy recorded advancements in Britain. The ascent of the business sector arranged bequest

One of the greatest revolutions in the history of homo sapiens was the adoption of agriculture, which changed the face of communities at every level of class. Though this change was built upon new ideas and allowed us to provide more food for more people, was it in fact a positive change at the time? Today in 2017, we can all look around and see where the agricultural revolution has gotten us in the long run, but authors such as Yuval Noah Harari (2011) claim that during the infancy of the agricultural revolution, life for the average citizen was often a worse one than that of the common forager. A change in food production created many other changes, such as permanent human settlement, biologically unconventional labor, and a larger population density. This paper explores the pros and cons of the agricultural society and the hunter-gatherer society

The Yeoman Farmer Ideal has laid the foundation for a national identity that embraces work ethic, self-motivation and reaping the fruits of one’s own labor.

Jared Diamond, who is an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books, seems to have the idea that taking on the agricultural revolution was a stupendous thought. Archeological proof has been found to back Diamond’s assumption. By the study of ancient skeletons, visually viewing the bones, the teeth, and the general poor health of the mummified bodies, it is clear that agriculture had made its mark on a fair amount of people. Some people that were able to maintain farming were better off than others. Others had to make an irrational choice between gathering their food in harsh conditions or begin farming; but was this a grave mistake?