AND ANGLING SONGS. 293 



become established among the arts and sciences, it can only 

 attain that dignity by the aid of sanguine experimentalists like 

 Mr. Shaw. Even in the failures of such men there is a measure 

 of success. They pave the way to the detection of what caused 

 them, and lead in most instances to the application of corrective 

 measures. The triumphs of agriculture have been attained, and 

 are still in progress, owing to the zeal and devotedness paid to 

 its study as a science. It is no longer an occupation for mere 

 serfs the tilling of the soil ! No longer is it left to nature to give 

 us harvests of plenty. As well as the hand, the head and the 

 heart good heads and brave hearts are at work in this branch 

 of industry. Art joins with nature in the field, aids, regulates, 

 nay, even dictates to it, and as a result as the result of this 

 grand putting forth of energies, this active enthusiasm we have 

 corn and fodder in tenfold abundance, thicker fleeces and roomier 

 fleshpots ; the principle which nourished the tare and thistle 

 transferred to the useful plants, and made to contribute to the 

 support of human life and the increase of national wealth. Such 

 are the triumphs which have crowned, and are still crowning, the 

 art of agriculture. 



Pisciculture, as earnestly pursued and devotedly engaged in, 

 will no doubt lead to results of equal importance. The require- 

 ments of a growing population, in the matter of diet, will be 

 assisted by it, and the transactions of commerce become more 

 numerous. Rivers, lakes, and estuaries, hitherto barren and 

 unprofitable, will be converted into storeholds, and made capa- 

 ble, in the day of dearth and famine (a day which, as regards 

 the produce of our stalls and corn fields, may occur at any time) 

 of assuaging, if not of warding off, one of the most terrible forms 

 of calamity. 



