THE STATE AS FARMER 39 



fortune, indeed it has taken fortunes, to 

 discover how plants grow, what their appe- 

 tite for water is, how their various needs can 

 be supplied and their numerous enemies 

 destroyed. But when the lessons have been 

 learned, it is comparatively simple to apply 

 them to the many needs of plants on the 

 different soils if we have some one at the 

 head who can direct the work in the line of 

 principles rather than in that of red tape and 

 old Mother Shipton. 



Again, the mere taking of samples of soil 

 is a small part of the work of a useful survey. 

 The lie of the land should be viewed by the 

 student, so as to join this up with the known 

 geological formation and the samples secured. 

 The very weeds on the surface, too, are an 

 index of its disease. We are not troubled 

 here in quite the same way as some other 

 States are by difficulties of a large mechanical 

 and physical order. We have not to decide 

 often between pasture and arable because we 

 fear that some hillside may make its way into 

 a great river or the sea. The general con- 

 venience settles these questions in most cases ; 

 but in a minor manner much saving might 



