The Scientific Agriculture of the Period. 283 



Careful to omit none of the suggestions contained in the book's 

 directions, he prepared with mummy and planted in like man- 

 ner young plum trees with their roots in the air, roots of trees 

 with neither twig nor bud upon them, leaves of oranges, laurels, 

 etc., and watered the w^iole plantation so plentifully that the 

 ground became paste. Having heard of the efficacy of soap 

 under similar circumstances, he, in addition to all this, took 

 some cuttings of vines, yew, pear, etc., thickly soaped the parts 

 which were to be in the earth, planted and watered them as 

 before, and left them exposed to the sun and air. Of the vines 

 dressed with mummy, two-thirds lived, though their leaves 

 dropped off; the pears and arbutus flourished; the plums, 

 though showing signs of decay, survived ; the twigs of the 

 peach trees remained fresh and green ; the yews died ; the 

 bays lingered in life ; and the reversed specimens not only lived, 

 but sprouted. Lastly, on digging up the bed in October of the 

 the same year he found, except among the leaves, plentiful 

 evidences of rooting. Thus, in spite of (certainly not because 

 of) all this unnatural treatment, the tortured sticks and leaves 

 survived to advertise, alas, the supposed benefits of a treatment 

 which was violating all the canons of Sense and Science. But 

 in one direction at least Richard Bradley's experiments were 

 not altogether mischievous. The mere fact of thus resorting 

 to scientific aid set philosophic thought in motion. In the 

 preface of the French translation we find that this was actually 

 the case. 



" Gardeners," he says, " being only guided by Experience, are seldom 

 led to make any Reflection upon the Principles of their Art, the know- 

 ledge they have is for the most part Historical, and is wide from the 

 cause of what they see. They sow Grain in the Earth, and when it is 

 reaped and carried away, they know the Ground must rest, or be amended 

 by some sort of Manure. The seed grows, if the Ground is good ; but 

 how does it grow ? and in what degree, or by what means, is this Vegeta- 

 tion produced ? This would be too much to ask of them, and the very 

 Question would be lost. They plant a Tree, as their Master did before 

 them ; but might it not grow better, if they were to follow some other 

 Method ? Would not Nature work with more Facility in her operations, 

 if by studying her Laws we were to take necessary Precautions to ease 

 her in her "Works ? But their Studies are not to that Extent. They act 



