Book IT. STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 2SI 



a few degrees above the freezing point. Corn may be preserved for many years, by first 

 drying it thoroughly in the sun, and then burying it in dry cool pits, and "closing these 

 so as effectually to exclude the atmospheric air. In a short time the air within is 

 changed to carbonic acid gas, in which no animal will live, and in which, without an 

 addition of oxygen or atmospheric air, no plant or seed will vegetate. The corn is thus 

 preserved from decomposition, from insects, from vermin, and from vegetation, in a far 

 more effectual manner than it could be in a granary. In this way the Romans preserved 

 their corn in chambers hewn out of dry rock ; the Moors, in the sides of hills ; the Chi- 

 nese, at the present time, in deep pits, in dry soil ; and the aboriginal nations of Africa, 

 as we have seen (1136.), in earthen vessels hermetically sealed. {Lasteyrie des Fosses 

 propres d la Conservation des Graines. Chaptal Cliimie applique a V Agriculture, torn. ii. 

 ch. 10.) These practices are all obvious imitations of what accidentally takes place in 

 nature, from the withered grassy tressock to the hedgehog's winter store ; and hence the 

 origin of herb, seed, fruit, and root rooms and cellars, and of packing plants and seeds 

 for sending to a distance. 



1835. The whole art of vegetable culture is but a varied developement of the above 

 fundamental practices, all founded in nature, and for the most part rationally and satis- 

 factorily explained on chemical and physiological principles. Hence the great necessity 

 of the study of botany to the cultivator, not in the limited sense in which the term is 

 often taken, as including mere nomenclature and classification, but in that extended 

 signification in which we have here endeavoured, proportionately to our limited space, 

 to present the study of the vegetable kingdom. Those who would enter more minutely 

 into the subject will have recourse to the excellent work of Keith, from whom we have 

 quoted at such length ; to Sir J. E. Smith's Introduction ; and to the familiar introduc- 

 tions to the Linnean and Jussieuean systems of botany in the Magazine of Natural 

 History, vols. i. and ii. 



BOOK II. 



OF THE STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 



•1836. Organised matter is of two kinds, animal and vegetable. Yet however obvious 

 the difference between them may appear, it is, in point of fact, extremely difficult to state 

 in what this difference consists. The power of locomotion, enjoyed by the more perfect 

 animals, would seem at first an admirable distinction ; but there are multitudes of others 

 as completely destitute of this power as plants. If we descend in the scale of animal 

 life, we find beings formed like vegetables, and externally distinguished from them only 

 by their voluntary motion. Yet even this, as an exclusive distinction, will not avail us; 

 because there are very many plants (as the DionaeVi muscipula, several species of Mimosa, 

 and some few of C&ssia) which are well known to be highly irritable. Macleay, who 

 has discussed this question with great ability, concludes by remarking " that animals are 

 to be distinguished from vegetables by the existence of an absorbent intestinal cavity, and 

 of a nervous system ; but that both these marks become indistinct in those animals, which, 

 from the simplicity of their structure, approach nearest to the vegetable nature." (Hor. 

 Ent.) 



1837. A partial knowledge of animals is essential to the agriculturist ; as they have fre- 

 quently a much greater influence over his operations than the most consummate skill, or 

 the most prudent, management. This knowledge should be both scientific and practical. 

 Without the first, he cannot communicate to others the established name of any known 

 animal, or an accurate account of any that may be unknown. While, without the second, 

 he will be ignorant of those habits and properties which render animals either hurtful or 

 beneficial to man. In proof of the importance of this knowledge, the following anecdote 

 deserves attention : — In 1 7»8, great alarm was excited in this country by the probability 

 of importing in wheat from North America the insect called the Hessian fly, whose 

 dreadful ravages had spread desolation and almost famine over that country during the 

 two preceding years. The privy council sat day after day anxiously debating what 

 measures should be adopted to ward off a danger, more to be dreaded, as they well 

 knew, than the plague or pestilence. Expresses were sent off in all directions to the 

 officers of the customs at the different out-ports respecting the examination of cargoes. 

 Despatches were sent to the ambassadors in France, Austria, Prussia, and America, 

 to gain that information which only a scientific knowledge of the insect could supply : 

 and so important was the business deemed, that, according to Young, the minutes of 



