An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology part 83. This one of a kind encyclopedia presents the entire field of technology from rudimentary agricultural tools to communication satellites in this first of its kind reference source. Following an introduction that discusses basic tools, devices, and mechanisms, the chapters are grouped into five parts that provide detailed information on materials, power and engineering, transportation, communication and calculation, and technology and society, revealing how different technologies have together evolved to produce enormous changes in the course of history | PART FIVE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY on a settled agriculture is traditionally called the Neolithic Revolution but the change was hardly sudden and it is in fact difficult if not impossible to identify any critical date at about which the change occurred. The second point to be identified was shortly after the Industrial Revolution and to give the farming industry comparable status the term Agricultural Revolution was applied to the period in the later nineteenth century when mechanization of both farmyard and field operations was becoming normal practice. But if a revolution did occur it was considerably before this time and it did not involve machinery. For example in the United Kingdom between 1701 and 1801 the population increased from about million to million. Although a certain amount of food imports did occur over this period these people were in effect fed by British farmers. This achievement was accomplished by changes in rotations selective breeding of plants and animals and increasing awareness of the biological and chemical principles involved in agriculture and the application of techniques based on this awareness. It was also a period when scientific experimentation was being applied and in this the period is not dissimilar to the latest revolution which has occurred since the Second World War. It is in the lab oratory that the chemicals for fertilizers and sprays are developed and here also breeding experiments have produced the multiple increases in crop yields. On the experimental stations animal breeding and particularly veterinary techniques such as artificial insemination and embryo transplants have been developed. The skill of the farmer is still of the utmost importance in the application of these advances since only with good husbandry can they be fully realized. The skill and inherent knowledge of the farmer are of particular importance in those economies that can least afford the benefits of the laboratory that are dependent on oil for
