V.L REMARKS AND DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 389 



caanieci imagination leaning upon the handles of a plough, with 

 piles of scientific books spread open at her feet, weeping, like the 

 Macedonian hero, that she had no more worlds to conquer. A 

 Flemish gentleman informs me that the agriculture of the Low 

 Countries is altogether superior to that of any other part of the 

 world. The Chinaman puts forth his claims to superiority, and 

 shows pretty conclusively how much justice he has upon his 

 side, when^he points to the extraordinary and unquestionable 

 fact, in his own country, of the largest amount of population sup 

 ported upon the smallest extent of land. In the midst of all this 

 comes a German, of wide possessions, of long practical experience, 

 and of much intelligence, and says to me, &quot; The English are the 

 most arrogant and conceited people under the sun ; and, in respect 

 to agricultural improvement, they are far inferior to the Germans.&quot; 

 Now, I do not feel it necessary to buckle on my armor and 

 defend my good friends the English against language which, it 

 must be admitted, is sufficiently peremptory and harsh. Nor do 

 I deem it necessary to enter the lists with either of these parties, 

 and endeavor to force him from his position. A diseased or in 

 ordinate self-esteem brooks no argument, and, in contending with 

 national prejudices, the result can only be as it is, to use the 

 rather coarse metaphor of Dr. Franklin, with a man who spits 

 against the wind that he spits in his own face. The first con 

 clusion to be drawn from these confident assumptions is, to dis 

 trust them all ; and the second is, by looking calmly and impar 

 tially at the improvements in which each claims a superiority, to 

 gather instruction from the results of each one s experience, and 

 new facilities and motives to enterprise, inquiry, and exertion. 



LXIV. THE SOIL. 



Agriculture rests, first of all things, upon the nature of 

 the soil which is to be cultivated. The soil is the basis on 

 which the plant is to be supported, and the medium through 

 which it is to receive the food by which its life is to be sus 

 tained, its growth promoted, and its progress advanced to matu- 

 33* 



