118 NATURAL HISTORY 



stood, will there be success. It is because these 

 sciences are the basis of Agriculture that men have 

 theoretically considered it noble ; it is because it has 

 to a great extent ignored these sciences, its true 

 basis, and become a changeless routine, that it has 

 practically been considered base. When the farmer 

 studies the minerals of which his soil is composed, 

 the plants that spring up around him, the insects 

 that destroy when he learns to study all the 

 objects which abound on every hill-side and valley 

 farming will be a science that will daily awaken 

 thought, a pursuit in which mind can develop, and 

 then it will not only be among the most honorable, 

 but the most honored of secular professions. Just 

 in proportion as it takes this place does it rise in 

 dignity, and call men of culture from other pursuits 

 to this. 



So far, then, as we look to the improvement of 

 agriculture in all its departments as a source of 

 wealth, and all acknowledge it to be the most 

 important in fact, the only sure basis, -just so far 

 do we acknowledge the relations of Natural History 

 to wealth, and make apparent the need of study in 



