APRIL. 107 



had, in the most earnest manner, exhorted his coun- 

 trymen to observe, with all care and diligence, at 

 what time each tree unfolds its buds and expands 

 its leaves ; imagining, and not without reason, that 

 his country would at some time or other reap some 

 new and perhaps unexpected benefit from observa- 

 tions of this kind made in different places. 



As one of the apparent advantages, he advises 

 the prudent husbandman to watch, with the greatest 

 care, the proper time for sowing ; because this, with 

 Divine assistance, produces plenty of provision, and 

 lays the foundation of the public welfare of the state, 

 and of the private happiness of the people. The 

 ignorant farmer, tenacious of the ways and customs 

 of his ancestors, fixes his sowing-season generally 

 to a month, and sometimes to a particular week, 

 without considering whether the earth be in a proper 

 state to receive the seed ; from whence it generally 

 happens that what the sower sowed with sweat, the 

 reaper reaps with sorrow. The wise economist 

 should, therefore, endeavour to fix upon certain signs 

 whereby to judge of the proper time for sowing. 

 We see trees open their buds and expand their 

 leaves, from whence we conclude that spring ap- 

 proaches, and experience supports us in the conclu- 

 sion ; but nobody has, as yet, been able to show us 

 what trees Providence has intended should be our 

 calendar, so that we might know on what day the 

 countryman ought to sow his grain. No one can 

 deny but that the same power which brings forth 

 the leaves of trees, will also make the grain vege- 



