NATU RAL HISTORY 



an evil day for any country, when this calling falls 

 into disrepute, or is neglected for other more alluring 

 and perhaps quicker sources of wealth. We have 

 already indicated how the study of Natural History 

 lends important aid to this branch of industry, by 

 introducing new plants, and giving more perfect 

 knowledge of their habits, the methods of improv- 

 ing their quality, and of protecting them from 

 injury. But were this all, it could not give it that 

 dignity and success which we believe it now con- 

 fers. It is fashionable to laud farming, but facts 

 seem to indicate that for some years past it has been 

 unfashionable to engage in it, where men must 

 labor with their own hands. It is not the labor that 

 has driven them from the field, for they have left it 

 oftentimes for more laborious and exhausting pur- 

 suits. Go through that large portion of our country 

 where those who live by cultivating the soil must 

 labor with their own hands, and inquire in every 

 family what business they intend for their sons, and 

 you will find farming to be the exception and not 

 the rule. One is intended for some trade, another 

 for the counting-room another for Law or Medi- 



