52 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



follies of this class as well as the readiness with which those who are studi- 

 ously intent on real improvement apply the knowledge that chance throws 

 in their way. 



■' A certain nobleman, very proud of the extent and beauty of his pleasure grounds, 

 chancing one day to call on a small squire whose garden might cover half an acre, was 

 greatly struck with the brilliant colors of his neighbor's flowers ' Ay, my lord, flow- 

 ers are well enough,' said the squire, ' but permit me to show you my grapes.' Con- 

 ducted into an old-fashioned little greenhouse, which served as a vinery, my lord gazed 

 ■with mortification and envy on grapes twice as fine as his own. ' My friend,' said my 

 lord, 'you have a jewel of a gardener ; let me see him." The gardener was called — 

 the single gardener — a simple looking young man under thirty. ' Accept my compli- 

 ments on your flower-beds and your grapes,' said my lord, 'and tell me if you can why 

 your flowers are so much brighter than mine, and your grapes so much finer. You 

 have studied horticulture profoundly.' ' Please your lordship,' said the man, 'I have 

 not had the advantage of much education ; I been't no scholar, but as to the flowers 

 and the vines, the secret as to training them just come to me, you see, by chance." ' By 

 chance';' Explain.' 'Well, my lord, three jears ago, master sent me to Lunnon on 

 business of his'n, and it came on to rain, and I took shelter in the mews, you see, and 

 there were two gentlemen taking shelter too ; and they were talking about char- 

 coal, and one said it had done a deal of good in many cases of sickness, and especiallj' 

 in the first stage of the cholera ; and I took a note on mj^ mind of that, because we'd 

 had the cholera in our village the year afore, and I guessed the two gentlemen were 

 doctors. And one of the gentlemen went on to say that charcoal had a special good 

 •effect upon all vegetable life, and told a story of a vine-dresser in Germany, I think, 

 who had made a very sickly, poor vinej^ard one of the best in all those parts, simply by 

 charcoal dressings. So I naturally pricked up my ears at that, for our vines were in so 

 bad a way that master thought of doing away with them altogetlier. Well, before I 

 tried the charcoal on my plants, I went to our nurseryman, who has a deal of book 

 learning, and I asked him if he had ever heard of charcoal dressing being good for 

 vines, and he said he had read in a book that it was so, but he had never tried it. He 

 lent me the book, and I tried the charcoal in the way the book told me to try it, and 

 that"s how the grapes and the flower-beds came to please you, my lord. It was a lucky 

 chance that 1 ever heard those gentlemen talking in the mews, please your lordship." 



" ' Chance happens to all,' answered the peer sententiously, ' but to turn chance to 

 account is the gift of but few." 



" His lordship returned home, gazed gloomily on the hues of his vast parterres ; he 

 visited his vineries and scowled at the clusters ; he summoned his head gardener, a 

 gentleman of the highest repute for science, and who never spoke of a cowslip except 

 by its name in Latin. To this learned personage my lord communicated what he had 

 heard and of the benignant effect of charcoal, and produced in proof a magnificent 

 bunch of grapes which lie had brought from the s(juire's. 



"'My lord,' said the gardener, scarcely glancing at the grapes, 'Squire 's 



gardener must be a poor ignorant creatui-e to fancy he has discovered a secret in what 

 is so very well known to every professed horticulturist. Prof. Liebig, my lord, has 

 treated of the good effect of charcoal dressing to vines especially, and it is to be 

 explained on these chemical principles' — therewith the wise man entered into a pro- 

 found dissertation, of which his lordship did not understand a word. 



" 'Well, then,' said the peer, cutting short the harangue, ' since you know so well 

 that charcoal is good for vines and fiowers, have you ever tried it on mine ":'' 



" ' I can't say I have ; it did not chance to come into my head." 



" ' Nay,' replied the peer, 'chance put it into your head, but thought never took it out 

 of your head."" 



The lesson is plain. Science will not make the roses bloom, or fill the 

 barns with plenty, unless its possessor has the discretion, the knowledge of 

 details, the methodical habit of attending to little things on time in daily 

 management. These must have been learned and have become a part of 

 himself as much as the science, aye more, if he would achieve success in 

 agriculture. Get all the science you can, but measure your acquisitions by 

 the standard of utility, not display, and do not forget that the measure of 

 our life's success depends greatly on our ability to have thought take out of 

 our heads the ideas which are opportune, have fitness to the time, the place, 

 and the work we have to perform. 



