458 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



cannot require too much, provided you make your premiums in 

 proportion liberal. Excellence is never attained by presenting 

 an inferior standard. Let your rewards be as liberal as possible ; 

 require the work to be done as well as possible ; and make your 

 rules reasonable, but as stringent as possible ; and hold con 

 formity absolute and inevitable. In every such competition, 

 there are minds in which the superior value and splendor of a 

 triumph under such circumstances will rouse a powerful and 

 noble ambition ; fire will be brought out of stone, and, as in 

 some beautiful chemical experiments, you will see the blaze 

 burning under the ice. But if you must have a scrub race, have 

 it in another part of the field, and after the noble-spirited horses 

 are withdrawn, and the donkeys and the Rosinarites are brought 

 forward. I have never known a case, in which this loose system 

 of accommodation and indulgence prevailed, and where the rules 

 were narrowed or expanded to fit the occasion, that the decision 

 of the judges gave general satisfaction, or ought to give sat 

 isfaction. 



It is very mortifying to fail in an object for which one has had 

 a hard struggle. Many a noble fellow, after having reached the 

 upper limbs of the tree, as he was upon the point of putting his 

 hand on the fruit, has found himself, with every effort and strain, 

 not quite high enough to reach it, and perhaps has come tum 

 bling down, with his clothes torn, and his face scratched, to the 

 ground. Upon such a mind, the only effect was to rouse his 

 ambition to a stronger pitch, to give new vigor to his muscles 

 and new energy to his determination. This was as it should be. 



I have been told of an Irishman, an Irishman he was, of 

 course, for none but this clever people ever do such pleasant things. 

 that he called to demand the payment of the highest prize in 

 the lottery, which he said he had drawn. Upon presenting his 

 ticket, he was told that it was the number next above his to 

 which the prize had fallen. He said &quot;he knew that very well : 

 but he did not suppose that such great folks would stand out for 

 a single number.&quot; In all cases of competition, the prize should 

 only be paid to the number which has actually drawn it. It 

 may, in many cases, be expedient to give prizes for effort, and 

 for partial excellence ; but if the premium is announced for ac 

 complishment, to accomplishment only should it be paid. 



