HARROWING. 469 



* 



as is needed for the perfection of the work. The plants rise 

 out of the ground with a spirit and beauty which no human art 

 can rival. The hand of an invisible artist is at work to expand 

 the roots, to train the stem, to mould the leaves, to protect all 

 with a net-work of the finest web, to throw in colors of exquisite 

 beauty, and to fill the pendent seed-vessels with bread, for the 

 sustenance and nourishment of animal life. In a few weeks, or 

 months, the field so lately naked and desolate is laden with 

 treasures far richer than gold, and for which all the glittering 

 diamonds of Peru, and all the shining pearls of Orient climes, 

 would be no substitute. Man gathers what, with strange pre 

 sumption, he calls the products of his skill and labor, and fills 

 his garner with the golden treasures of the fields. Now, because 

 this happens so regularly and so frequently, shall it cease to 

 excite his surprise, and touch his heart ? In my humble opinion, 

 its frequency, and its comparative certainty, vastly expand the 

 miracle ; and if the rich fruits of a beneficence, so entirely 

 beyond his command and control, yet withal so constant, so 

 faithful, so liberal, call out no aspirations of piety, if &quot; harvest 

 home &quot; awakens no anthem of thanksgiving and reverence in 

 his soul, he must not claim an equality even with the animals 

 which he drives, for &quot; the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass 

 his master s crib/ 



LXXXV. HARROWING. 



There are various operations to be gone through with, after 

 the ploughing. The first object in English cultivation is to 

 reduce the soil to as fine a tilth as possible. Tull, who is some 

 times called the father of .English arable cultivation, deemed the 

 loosening, and stirring, and reducing the soil, as all that was 

 necessary to its productiveness, and that manure might be dis 

 pensed with. The first position was the foundation of great 

 improvements; but the latter was soon discovered to be an 

 error. His practice, which was tried by many persons, laid the 

 foundation of what is called the New Husbandry, and may be 

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