AGRICULTURE. 133 



PART VI. 



AGRICULTURE. 

 I. 



SHEEP-FARMING, sheep-breeding, cattle-breeding and feed- 

 ing (and the consequent utilisation of our beef) in progres- 

 sive stages, must necessarily be dependent on agriculture. 

 There is a mutual dependence, and there must be a 

 mutual aid, or neither probably will or can be brought 

 to any degree of perfection, and certainly not to a lasting 

 one. 



This is so important a truth, that thinking men of these 

 countries should give it their earnest attention ; indeed 

 the conviction of this truth should dwell on the minds of 

 the enlightened, and no opportunity should be lost for 

 propagating it, and educating the minds of the masses to 

 a right understanding of it. 



Agriculture ever goes hand in hand with civilisation ; 

 and the most civilised nations are those with whom the 

 science of agriculture is placed on the highest pedestal. 



The decline and fall of more than one great nation has 

 its connecting link with the absence of agricultural know- 

 ledge and agricultural practice ; and the comparatively 

 sterile lands, which exist in several countries as a conse- 

 quence of an ' exhausting ' system of farming, stand as 

 impediments to their regeneration as nations. Able 



