xvni GAINS FBOM KNOWLEDGE 213 



earth to his will, let us look for one moment at 

 one other picture of human skill. 



If we cross the Channel to France, and travel 

 eastwards till we reach Paris, we find that, like 

 London, like all large cities, Paris is surrounded 

 by a ring of market-gardens, a circle of highly 

 cultivated land, the object of which is to supply 

 some part, at least, of the needs of the great city. 

 But just as the English farmer is the most skilful 

 in the world, and gets more from his wheat land 

 than any other, so the market-gardeners round 

 Paris are the most skilful in the world, and can 

 do marvels which no others can imitate with their 

 tiny patches. 



The English farmer has won the favour of the 

 goddess of fertility, who pours her golden grain 

 into his lap in unstinted showers. It is a more 

 stubborn goddess that the French gardeners woo. 

 Proserpine, the goddess of spring flowers, of sprouting 

 corn, and of unfolding leaves, comes tardily every- 

 where, for the time seems long till she appears. 

 But while others must wait her coming, 'be it soon 

 or late, the gardeners of Paris can bring her at 

 their will. So powerful a charm have they, that, 

 in bleakest January, she will smile beneath their 

 frames. Nay more, while elsewhere the spring, 

 though it come with lagging feet, must neverthe- 

 less fly at the approach of summer, here these 



