Notes and Gleanings. 365 



improvement has not been attempted, or that is incapable of receiving it, is 

 a somewhat rare occurrence. Here, however, I ought to state, that my means 

 of observation are hmited, and, in the main, confined to such views as could be 

 obtained from the windows of a quickly-passing carriage. In such parts of the 

 island, as, from the nature of the soil, greater vigor of the climate, or other 

 cause, the agricultural capabihty of the soil is less easy of development, the end 

 arrived at in the more favored portions is attained by a still more highly im- 

 proved system of husbandry : so that, go where one will, there appears every- 

 where fertility, and luxuriance of vegetation ; and England may be described as 

 one great garden. 



Now, it seems to me that the beauty of the landscape in England depends 

 very much upon this superior quality of its cultivation, and this natural or 

 acquired fertility of its soil, with the luxuriance of vegetation that is a conse- 

 quence of both, and to which also its moist and mild climate perhaps essen- 

 tially contributes, by keeping both hills and valleys constantly clothed with 

 a green, of whose vividness we in America have no counterpart, unless it be for 

 a short time in the opening of the year. I cannot conceive of beauty as com- 

 bined with barrenness and desolation. A barren, sandy desert is an abomina- 

 tion ; and though a naked, lofty mountain may be grand, and a wild, rocky 

 country picturesque, yet, without fertility and cultivation, such, to me, are without 

 beauty. In Swiss or Alpine scenery, with lofty mountains thousands of feet 

 high, often sheer perpendicular rocks, on whose tops the snow never melts, 

 )-et whose lower slopes are clothed with trees, and at whose bases lie fertile and 

 highly-cultivated valleys, it is, as it seems to me, the luxuriance of vegetation 

 and the cultivation that give to the scene its beauty, and that, with the grandeur 

 of the mountains, produce a landscape of combined beauty and sublimity, that, 

 without this fertility and cultivation, would lose its principal charm, but that 

 with these, though witliout the mountains, would still have many attractions. 



It is hardly safe or proper to draw any definite or fixed conclusion from 

 a partial experience, and with limited means of observation ; but it seemed to 

 me, that, for certain agricultural purposes (1 refer especially to making hay), 

 comparatively little use is made of agricultural machines in England. How it 

 may be with those for other purposes, I have no means of knowing. During 

 a somewhat extended journey in the west and south of England in the height 

 of the haying season, and while the farmers were everywhere busy in cutting 

 and securing it, I saw but very few mowing-machines, — not more than half 

 a dozen, — and still fewer hay-makers; while the scythe and hand-rake were 

 in general use. In a country so ready and prompt to avail itself of the intro- 

 duction of all discoveries and improvements as England is, this somewhat sur- 

 prised me ; and I can only account for it by supposing, that, comparatively, the 

 hay-harvest is of less consequence, and the breadth of land devoted to grass of 

 not much extent, so that the outlay for machines to cut it cannot be afforded ; 

 or else that the greater cheapness, than with us, of manual labor, makes the use 

 of this more economical. What further I m.ay have to say in reference to these 

 or kindred subjects must be deferred to a subsequent opportunity, should such 

 present itself Joseph S. Cabot. 



Pakis, France, Oct. 15, 1867. 



