OF AGRICULTURE. 135 



we are inclined tc maintain that nowhere in 

 Europe, beyond the forty-fifth degree of lati- 

 tude, are grapes grown at less expense of human 

 labour, both for capital outlay and yearly work, 

 than in the vineries of the London and Brussels 

 suburbs. 



At any rate, let us not overrate the pro- 

 ductivity of the exporting countries, and let 

 us remember that the vine-growers of Southern 

 Europe drink themselves an abominable piquette ; 

 that Marseilles fabricates wine for home use out 

 of dry raisins brought from Asia ; and that the 

 Normandy peasant who sends his apples to 

 London, drinks real cider only on great fes- 

 tivities. Such a state of things will not last 

 for ever ; and the day is not far when we shall 

 be compelled to look to our own resources to pro- 

 vide many of the things which we now import. 

 And we shall not be the worse for that. The 

 resources of science, both in enlarging the circle 

 of our production and in new discoveries, are 

 inexhaustible. And each new branch of activity 

 calls into existence more and more new branches, 

 which steadily increase the power of man over 

 the forces of nature. 



If we take all into consideration ; if we 

 realise the progress made of late in the garden- 

 ing culture, and the tendency towards spreading 

 its methods to the open field ; if we watch the 



