28 THE CORN-FIELD. 



There are, indeed, numerous passages in the 

 Bible the meaning of which we can illustrate 

 and render more intelligible by reference to the 

 natural history and customs of Eastern countries. 

 To this class belong Isaiah xxxii. 20 : " Blessed 

 are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth 

 thither the feet of the ox and the ass;" and 

 Eccles. xi. 1, " Cast thy bread upon the waters, 

 for thou shalt find it after many days." In the 

 latter of these passages allusion is made indi- 

 rectly to the custom, still practised in oriental 

 countries, of sowing rice after a flood on inun- 

 dated lands, and before the water has subsided; 

 and in the former, to the practice of driving oxen 

 and other domestic animals into the rice lands 

 as soon as the floods have retired, in order that 

 by trampling on the ground they may bury the 

 seed so deeply as to prevent it from being scorched 

 up by the fervent rays of the sun. It is not un- 

 usual in this country to drive flocks into corn- 

 fields in the early spring months for a somewhat 

 similar purpose. 



Before we quit the corn-field and pass out into 

 yonder shady lane, where, I dare say, we shall find 

 something to look at and talk about, we will gather 

 some of the flowers which make such a show 

 among the corn; and these, with a few honey- 

 suckles and dog-roses, which, without doubt, 

 grow somewhere in our way homewards, will 

 make almost as pretty a nosegay as we could 

 gather in a garden. The farmer will, doubtless, 

 allow us to pull two or three ears of corn, and 

 when we have admired the compactness with 

 which the grains are arranged, and the care 

 which appears to have been taken in protect- 



