INTRODUCTORY [Chap, 



bution of the labours of the year. The harvest 

 month, as it is proverbially called, is a month of 

 bustle and of hurry indescribable : all is at stake ; 

 not a moment is to be lost; any demand for 

 wages must be submitted to : to this succeeds 

 a dead calm, in which there is nothing to do ; 

 wages acquired so suddenly are but too frequently 

 as suddenly dissipated; and, after a long and 

 indolent autumn, winter comes, and meets the 

 labourer with not a farthing of his harvest earn- 

 ings in his pocket. Now, the Indian corn fur- 

 nishes employment until the end, and after the 

 end of October, and well rewards the man who 

 gives the employment. This is one of the most 

 important considerations belonging to the subject. 

 I shall, by and bye, have to show, when I come 

 to the eighth chapter, where I shall speak of the 

 various uses to which the grain and other parts 

 of the produce are applicable : I shall then show, 

 what a blessing this plant will be to the English 

 labourer, and how it will and must drive the 

 accursed soul-degrading potatoe out of that land, 

 into which it never ought to have come : but, 

 viewing the cultivation of this plant, merely as 

 the means of diminishing the bustle of the one 

 month, by spreading it over three ; viewing it in 

 this light only, the introduction of this plant must, 

 by every sensible man, be deemed of the greatest 

 importance. 



