280 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ingenuity to some other useful calling, the products of which may be 

 given to the farmer in exchange for food. Here then is the division 

 of labor which is at the foundation of all social order and civiliza- 

 tion, and which is adopted more and more as communities become 

 enlightened and prosperous. Without such distribution of pursuits 

 little wealth could be accumulated by nations or individuals. The 

 poorest man in this neighborhood is rich compared with what he 

 would be if he could own one hundred square m.iles of land and live 

 on it alone with his family, cut off from all privileges of society and 

 barter, and having- only what he could produce and manufacture 

 with his own hands, yuch a man could only produce the bare neces- 

 sities of life. His food must be the spontaneous products of the soil 

 and the spoils of the chase, his clothing must be the skins of wild 

 animals, his shelter a rude hut, and his only beverage water. But as 

 the productions of the soil are increased a minute division of labor 

 is made possible and society takes on that complexity of organiza- 

 tion which characterizes a high state of civilization. 



Again, in no other pursuit does man stamp so deeply upon the 

 works of God, his image and superscription, as in this. He modi- 

 fies the climate in all lands. The increase or diminution of vegeta- 

 tion has a large influence on climate. Hemoving forests decreases 

 the rainfall in a given region, and planting trees increases it. In 

 former times Europe was much colder than at present. In the 

 fifteenth century the waters of Italy were much colder than now, and 

 the Seine in France, and other rivers in that latitude, were frozen in 

 Winter, while the Thames froze so thick that the inhabitants crossed 

 from London to South wark, and oxen were roasted whole on the ice. 

 The clearing of the forests increases the dryness of the air and raises 

 the temperature. Regions of Asia and Northern Africa, which in 

 ancient times were the granaries of Europe, fertile and populous, 

 were made deserts by the clearing of the forests. On the other hand, 

 in parts of Scotland and Southern France the climate has been 

 modified, and the droughts have been effectually prevented by the 

 planting of forests. In parts of Lower Egypt rain was formerly 

 unknown. But vast plantations have been planted there, covering 

 many square miles, and started by the aid of irrigation, and copious 

 rainfalls are the result. Again, the farmer modifies the climate by 

 draining lakes and morasses, and reclaiming the tule and other waste 

 lands. Intermittent fevers have disappeared from England, chiefly, 

 no doubt, in consequence of the high*cultivation and careful drainage 

 of the land; Avhile two hundred yeai:s ago they were as prevalent in 

 England as in any of our fever and ague regions in the West. Crom- 

 well, Milton, and Bunyan died of intermittent fever and blood 

 letting, as did our own Washington. Fever and ague lingered in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire until the commencement of this century; 

 but they have been drained, and that type of disease is now unknown 

 in England. Hence, the farmer, and not "Old Probabilities," is the 

 true clerk of the weather. When he plants a tree for fruit, timber, 

 shade, or decoration, he creates the atmosphere in which he and his 

 family are to live. And while he, by underdraining, reduces other- 

 wise useless soils to fertility and fruitfulness, he banishes disease and 

 prolongs the life of himself and his neighbors. Thorough cultiva- 

 tion, drainage, and decoration, mean more than dollars and cents; 

 they mean health of body, and refinement of mind as well. It is the 

 Divine order that utility and beauty should go hand in hand. The 



