Closely allied with guns, both in coast defense and in naval warfare, are torpedoes. The crude weapons of this type, used in the War of Secession, have been developed into formidable engines of war, before whose destructive power the strongest vessels are helpless. For their classification and description _see_ “The Century’s Naval Progress,” pages 84, 85. The destructive power of torpedoes is so well known as to give them a great moral weight as a means of defense. The fact that the German harbors on the Baltic were known to be protected by torpedoes saved them from an attack by the French navy in 1870–71, and Cervera’s fleet in the harbor of Santiago, in 1898, was safe from our squadron so long as the mouth of the channel was closed with Spanish torpedoes. Though necessarily brief, the foregoing sketch will show that in the course of the nineteenth century armies have increased enormously in size, and in the power of rapid movement and certainty of supply. Infantry has increased in relative numbers and in importance. Extended order fighting, in which the individuality of the soldier comes into play, has taken the place of the old rigid shoulder-to-shoulder line of battle. The private soldier’s vocation has risen, in many branches of the military service, from a trade to a profession, and now, more than ever before, is extensive training and a high order of intellect necessary for the command of armies. Wars have become shorter, sharper, more decisive and more terrible; and increased emphasis has been placed upon the warning, “In time of peace prepare for war.” THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE BY WALDO F. BROWN, _Agricultural Editor “Cincinnati Gazette.”_ I. VICISSITUDES OF EARLY FARMING. If the thought enters the mind of the reader that a youth (?) of sixty-seven is not competent to write upon agricultural improvement for the entire century, the answer is that such improvement can scarcely be said to have begun until near the middle of the century; that the early forties saw the writer at work on a farm; that he has ever since lived on a farm; and that he, therefore, writes from personal experience of the improvements which have transformed agriculture from a simple art to a profound science.