114 RUTA BIG A CULTURE. PiUt I. 



me, indeed, that the last summer was a remarkably 

 fine summer ; so they said at Botley, when I had 

 my first prodigious crop of Ruta Baga. This is 

 the case in all the pursuits of life. The moment 

 a man excels those, who ought to ce able and 

 v/illing to do as well as he ; that moment, otliers 

 set to work to discover causes for his success 

 other than those proceeding from himself. But, 

 as I used to tell my neighbours at Botley, " You 

 *'have had the same seasons that I have had. No- 

 " thing is so impartial as weather.'- As long as 

 this sort of observation, or inquiry, proceeds from 

 a spirit of emulation, it may be treated with great 

 indulgence ; but, when it discovers a spirit of envy, 

 it becomes detestable, and especially in affairs of 

 agriculture, where the appeal is made to our com- 

 mon parent, and where no man's success can 

 be injurious to his neighbour, while it must be a 

 benefit to his country, or the country in which 

 the success takes place. I must, however, say, 

 and I say it with feelings of great pleasure, as 

 well as from a sense of justice, that I have ob- 

 served in the American farmers no envy of the 

 Ivind alluded to ; but, on the contrary, the greatest 

 satisfaction, at my success ; and not the least back- 

 wardness, but great forvv'ardness, to applaud and 

 admire m}^ mode of cultivating these crops. Not 

 so, in England, where the farmers (^generally the 

 most stupid as well as most slavish and most 

 churlish part of the nation) envy all who excel 

 them, while they are too obstinate to profit from 

 the example of those whom they en\j. I say 

 generally ; for there are many most honourable 

 exceptions ; and, it is amongst that class of men, 

 that I have my dearest and most esteemed friends ; 

 men of knowledge, of experience, of integrity, 

 and of pubhc-spirit, equal to that of the best of 

 Englishmen in the worst times of oppression. I 

 would not exchange the friendship of one of the^o 



