18 MR. gage's address. 



tion of green crops, by which an abundant supply of 

 food has been secured for stock, might, doubtless, be 

 carried much farther than it has been, amongst us ; 

 it is said to have effected as great and beneficial 

 change in that country, as the introduction of the 

 steam-engine and spinning-frame has done in manu- 

 factures.* High as is the present system of cultivation 

 in Scotland, not many years since, we are informed, 

 in parts of it at least, that their mode of ploughing 

 was with four horses abreast, preceded by a man, his 

 face toward the team, thus dragging, by a rope, the 

 horses after him. The implements of husbandry, in 

 consequence of the interest which has been awakened 

 in agriculture by associations like yours, are much 

 more convenient and efficient than formerly. 



The powers of nature have been made much more 

 productive, by the apphcation of human ingenuity, 

 and the probability now is, by the deep insight which 

 has been effected in natural science, that those pow- 

 ers may be developed almost beyond calculation. 



Travellers still speak with admiration of the re- 

 mains of those works constructed by Egyptian kings 

 for the distribution of the waters of the Nile. Simi- 

 lar works were also constructed for the distribution 

 of the waters of the Ganges and other rivers in In- 

 dia ; and both countries have been celebrated for their 

 fertility. 



Covered as they were with the densest population, 

 still in seasons of ordinary crops, they were able to 

 export great quantities of grain. The great fertility 



* Edinburgh Review. 



