262 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



is as applicable to the agriculturist as to the 

 moralist. It tells him to seek vegetation 

 suitable to his soil, rather than complain of 

 the earth he cannot change. The heavy 

 clay that produces such excellent wheat, 

 would yield a watery potatoe, a root more 

 delicious when grown in sandy ground, where 

 bread corn would fail of coming to perfection 

 for want of nourishment. 



" Find out the nature of the mould with care, 

 And what is proper for each soil to bear." 



Virgil's Georgics. 



From the prevailing indifference with re- 

 spect to the virtues of those plants that do 

 not immediately contribute to the gratifica- 

 tion of our appetite, it might be supposed, 

 that our infirmities and diseases had left us ; 

 or, that having let out our bodies to surgeons 

 on repairing leases, we were no longer at 

 liberty to extract a thorn, or assuage pains 

 given by the sting of a wasp, without com- 

 mitting a trespass. 



Liberal minds will remunerate the stu- 

 dents in physic for their skill, and not for 

 their medicines ; for the least costly of the 

 latter, with good advice, will often remove 

 serious maladies. 



The houseleek forms a domestic external 



