THE VOICE OF AGRICULTURE. 539 



there who know the power which water has exerted in the 

 earth s history, and still exerts upon the farm every day? 

 that by its action all our stratified rocks were formed ? that 

 to its solvent power and chemical action we owe our useful 

 minerals and our metallic deposits ? that it is the great me 

 chanical power in nature ? that it has moved mountains and 

 filled valleys through its glacial action ? or that through its 

 agency our most fertile soils have been deposited over vast, 

 areas ? 



Again, how many know that the sun is the real, moving life- 

 power upon the earth, and that through the action of its rays 

 upon water we have dew, clouds, fogs, rain, snow, and frost ? 

 How many know that the crystalline rocks at the earth s 

 surface contain a greater quantity of water than all the seas 

 and rivers of the globe ; that if the conditions surrounding us 

 should change so that the earth would absorb only four thou 

 sandths of one per cent, of water more than it now contains, 

 the ocean would disappear, and we should lose not only our 

 moisture, but the atmosphere itself? How many compre 

 hend that it is the sun, after all, which is the great master 

 power that moves all on earth, water being only the agent? 



Now, the student in agriculture should understand, for 

 instance, how the agency of water is exerted for the benefit 

 of the farmer ; but it is not necessary that he should know 

 every thing which science teaches about water in all its 

 forms and phases. Life is too short for such all-embracing 

 investigations. 



Truly, we live in a realm of wonders. Nature s silent oper 

 ations on the farm are a succession of miracles, until we 

 understand the laws by which she works. Then they become 

 to our wondering minds as simple as they are beautiful, even 

 in their vastness and complexity. The number of tons of 

 water raised by an acre of corn, during its summer s growth, 



