XVIII 



history of these gardeners in the past, however, we 

 may be sure at least that they will learn to adapt 

 their methods to changing conditions ; that they 

 will not lose their control over Mother Earth. 



Taking the market- gar dens of Paris as a sign 

 and a symbol of the control over Nature that 

 knowledge has brought, let us go back and review 

 briefly the path that lias led man so far. 



We began, it will be remembered, with some 

 examples of people who made no attempt to till 

 the ground at all, who were content with what it 

 produced naturally. Then we came to the people 

 who cultivated a little, but who did not know how 

 to use the ground aright. These people seemed to 

 be struck with the curse of Cain. We remember 

 how it was said to him : " When thou tillest the 

 ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her 

 strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be 

 in the earth." 



We know enough now to see that this must 

 always be so, that unless man can succeed in 

 making the earth yield to him of her strength, he 

 must always be a fugitive and a vagabond, wander- 

 ing from place to place as he exhausts the soil, 

 incapable of making peaceful and permanent settle- 

 ments. 



As contrasted with these primitive conditions, 

 we saw that the nations which we call civilised 



