420 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



desirable, or would it prove more extensively beneficial. The 

 human mind finds the greatest of all delights in the acquisition 

 of knowledge, and is impelled by an instinctive impulse &quot;to 

 search into the causes of things.&quot; A man, if familiar with the 

 place and route, may find his way, if the lamps were not lighted, 

 even of a dark night, in the labyrinthine streets of London j but 

 he must proceed slowly and doubtingly, and may tumble into 

 an open sewer, or run against a post, or encounter other obstruc 

 tions more yielding than the post, yet twice as dangerous. But 

 since science has kindled the beautiful and far-reaching silver 

 flame of gas, and converted night into day, he walks in security 

 and confidence ; he escapes, if he has wisdom so to choose, 

 all perilous obstructions j and he reaches his destination by the 

 most direct, the most expeditious, and a certain route. 



LXXVI. ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS 



The soil must be the great object of the farmer s attention j 

 and here he may accomplish much. I mean much relatively, 

 ;and with a due consideration of the limitations by which human 

 power is always hemmed in. Light and heat, sunshine and 

 rain, wind and frost, and many other influences most important 

 to vegetation, of which as yet the human imagination has not, in 

 all probability, taken cognizance or conceived, are wholly beyond 

 his control or dictate. Arrogant and presumptuous as he is, the 

 earth could not contain him, if he were not chained down by 

 the fact of his absolute dependence. There is a beautiful moral 

 in the mythological fable of Jove s having given the reins to 

 Phaeton, and the disastrous consequences which followed. But 

 the ameliorations which an improved agriculture may effect are 

 great, and sufficiently encouraging to the loftiest self-esteem. 

 A wet soil may be drained ; a dry soil may be irrigated. A 

 barren soil may be enriched ; a rich soil may be made more 

 fertile and productive. A thin soil may be deepened ; a heavy 

 soil may be made lighter ; a loose soil may be made more com 

 pact. A bleak soil may be sheltered ; and an unfavorable aspect 



