64 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



of tlio most industrious farmer than are dreamed 

 of in tlic pliilosopliy of casual observers. You 

 cannot lay down a law to suit tlio varying soils 

 in counties and estates; but a locally practical 

 man is infinitely more capable than is a stranger 

 from a distance to judge of what is necessary 

 or most likely to benefit the land, the uncer- 

 tainty of tlie peculiarities in which he has been 

 conversant wdth all his life. 



When the difficulties of producing remunerative 

 crops are jmt before us, — entomological, atmo- 

 spheric, and arising from a combination of both, 

 — it is almost surprising that in some counties 

 such a thing as a man seeking to live by farming 

 should exist. To me it is certainly, so to speak, 

 an occupation of great pleasure, when all goes 

 well; but when you see your wheat or corn, 

 of wliatever description, turn from its fresh and 

 vernal green Inie, and, becoming yellow, droop 

 stalk by stalk, and, losing its stamina, fall to 

 the ground, having been eaten from beneath, 

 in its germ of existence, by tlie ^^wire worm," 

 tlicn there is not much that is ^^ beautiful" in 

 thwarted husbandry, and little else than disap- 

 pointment left. 



