148 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



ijuiry, as any one of the practical arts of life j and at the present 

 moment, it is occupying as much attention from the highest class 

 of minds as any other of the business pursuits of life. 



I hope, viewed in this aspect, I shall not be thought to speak 

 with undue warmth on this subject. I have, 1 am aware, already 

 alluded to it ; but I am anxious to assert the dignity of a pursuit 

 which I regard among the most honorable, as it is among the 

 most innocent and useful, in life : and I would, if possible, soften its 

 aspect, and multiply its attractions, to a large class of persons, 

 who have been accustomed to look upon it with indifference or 

 disdain, but who would be sure to find in it, if ardently and 

 intelligently pursued, health for the body, and peace and satisfac 

 tion nay more, the strongest and most delightful interest for 

 the mind. 



XIX. ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH 

 AGRICULTURE. 



But of what nature are the improvements which agriculture 

 has actually made in Great Britain, which determine the present 

 high condition of the art ? A stranger cannot, of course, from 

 personal experience, compare her present condition with what it 

 was ; yet the marks of progress are so obvious that the most 

 transient observer recognizes them ; and many are now in the pro 

 cess of accomplishment, which fill him with delightful surprise. 

 Many of these improvements are among the noblest triumphs of 

 art, and mark, as strongly as in almost any other cases, the power 

 of mind over matter, the subjugation of physical elements to an 

 intellectual sovereign. 



1. DRAINING, IRRIGATION, AND WARPING. Much of what has 

 been done is entirely out of sight ; whole fields, thousands and 

 thousands of acres of land, have been underdrained by pipes and 

 channels, spreading themselves like beautiful net- work under the 

 surface, taking off all the surplus moisture, and converting cold, 

 unfruitful, and unsightly morasses into productive and beautiful 

 fields. It would be curious, if it were possible, to approximate 



