60 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



riches which it holds ; and thus, in all accessible places, this im 

 provement be successfully carried oil ? It must be long before we 

 may look for such great enterprises in the United States ; yet the 

 extraordinary value of land here, and the immense amount of 

 capital seeking a profitable investment, warrant almost any ex 

 penditure ; and the permanent utility and beauty of such im 

 provements I had almost said, their moral sublimity ought to 

 stimulate ingenuity, labor, and skill, in every quarter. If he is to 

 be pronounced a public benefactor who makes two blades of 

 grass grow where but one grew before, what shall be said of 

 him who, by the boldness of his enterprise, stays the proud 

 waves of the ocean ; arrests the impetuous current laden with 

 plunder, and compels it to disgorge ; and rescues thousands of 

 acres, over which the waters of the sea spread only waste and 

 desolation, and compels them to glitter with golden grain, in 

 stead of the hoarse voice of the beating sea, to resound with the 

 glad notes of harvest -home, and the extensive plains to swarm 

 with an industrious population, and the fields to be crowded with 

 bleating and rejoicing herds ! 



XCV. AN EXPERIMENT. 



I ought not to pass over an experiment I witnessed, in East 

 bourne, Sussex, of making a productive field on a bed of shingle. 

 By c - shingle,&quot; it may be necessary to explain, for some of my 

 readers, that I mean the heaps of small and worn round and flat 

 stones, which are thrown up by the sea, and constitute often the 

 upper portion of a sea-beach. A considerable piece of such land 

 was enclosed by a stone wall, and mud and clay, to the depth of 

 more than a foot, evenly spread over it. It was then, after being 

 properly manured, sown with wheat, and produced a good crop, 

 and, when I saw it, was covered with a good yield of grass. 

 The material being near, the expense, though considerable, was 

 not over-large, and an ample remuneration was obtained. It 

 did not appear to suffer from drought, as one would have sup 

 posed ; though, ordinarily, few things suffer from drought in Eng- 



