This important but neglected book shows the reader how farming practices, and the care - or lack of care - with which the soil is treated have brought about both the rise and fall of civilizations, from the ancient Romans, to the Chinese, and the Muslim world. Soil is at the heart of civilization. This is a fully re-edited version of this classic and important text.- Introduction- Rome- The Roman Foods- The Roman Family- Soil Erosion in ancient Rome- Farmers and Nomads- Contrasting Pictures- Banks for the Soil- The Economics of the Soil- The English Peasant- Primitive Farmers- Nyasa- Tanganyika- Humanity and the Earth- Sind and Egypt- Fragmentation- The East and West Indies- The German Colonies: The Mandates- Russia, South Africa, Australia- The United States of America- A Kingdom of Agricultural Art in Europe- An Historical Reconstruction