SOCIETY OF NOIITHEUN ILLINOIS. 237 



Now it is thrit man hej^iiis to dwi'll upon iiatuivs methods, to 

 remember dropped hints of rotation in crop, and of savin<j; the can- 

 dle ends, recalls the fact that she acce])ts old clotlies to make over, 

 takinj^' cast-oil* hoots and shoes and reducing' them to al>sorl»ents, 

 hoardin*^ and savin^? every scrap and crumb aj^ainst some future 

 time of need, when it may be necessary to scatter like a spendthrift. 

 He even reflects that liis own body will not be refused when he has 

 done with it. but covered from obtrtisive <;aze with one of nature's 

 mantles of f^rey. ermine, or <;reen. the low tent where he has been 

 laid decked with starry blossoms, in due time she will incorpoi-ate 

 that body into new and beautiful forms. Nothing' l>ut is of value. 

 He lias seen her use the silken t^ossamer web of the spider, not to 

 catch flies, but to string her diamond beads upon for a sunrise recej)- 

 tion. and upon his window-])ane lie has often found her frost-lace 

 curtain stretched for show, and repeatedly has he had occasion to 

 notice that she has tried, with entire satisfaction, the efficacy of her 

 bleaching agencies upon liis o-arments and upon his carpets. These 

 are but trifles, but they have left their imi)ression to the effect that 

 nothing is without ])ractical value, and that economy is wealth. 

 Thus it is. that in nature's field, as under the poet's observation. 

 " Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers." as is significantly further 

 shown when the Avell and fountain bec(mie dry. the water of the river 

 fails to a mere thread, great cracks and fissures open in the ground, 

 the corn is parched up. the grain shrivelled, the fruit blasted. 

 "Wisdom lingers" then. But Art is in the field, and she suggests 

 --ex])eriment. Man tries it and fails: " Wisdom still lingers." but 

 Art is not disci )uraged. 81ie shows vitality, suggests more and bet- 

 ter trials, and little by little achieves a small advance. This suggests 

 the poet's observation again: ''Art is long, and Time is fleeting." 



Great truths and ))rinci])les are sometimes obtained after long- 

 search and experiment and oljservation — at other times revealed by 

 a flash like lightning. Whether our im]>roved fruits and garden 

 vegetables were brought about by the last or first methods T do not 

 know, but we are indebted to art for the luscious ])each instead of 

 nature's bitter almond, and also to the crowning excellence of north- 

 ern fruit — the apple, as we now know it. instead of nature's sour 

 crab. 



It is art. too, tliat has hintetl that natures st(jck of silicate in 

 certain localities is low, and she ought not to be expected to j)roduce 

 anything without it: that a present of ])liosphate would please her: 

 that ammonia would l)e extremely useful in some ])ai'ts of the Held, 

 and that in another part of the same there is actual trouble for the 

 want of pro])er drainage. 



Where these hints and suggestions have been acted upon, a 

 markecl imjirovement has been noticed at harvest time, when nature 

 l)ays all her debts, and gives liberally as she has been blessed. Thus 

 art is ever busy in her field, which lies within that of nature, though 



