THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



It was a plain old building, and small. It resembled 

 a Scottish farmhouse ; and the fields which surrounded 

 it, and the steading, showed that its master was some- 

 what of a farmer. He had scientific theories regarding 

 agriculture, which he was always putting to practical 

 test. Some succeeded beyond his expectations, others 

 failed ; not because Science " would not work," but 

 because experiments done on so small a scale cannot 

 pay Science; and then Ignorance, in the form of 

 money-grubbing practical farmers, laughed at the 

 Naturalist and his theories. 



The house stood on a gentle slope, overlooking one 

 of those land-locked fiords which characterise the 

 Shetland Isles. Behind rose a tiny range of hills, 

 whose varied peaks resemble those of the Cheviots. 

 The house was, as I said, small and unpretending, 

 more so than other houses in the place ; but neverthe- 

 less, a stranger would have his attention attracted to 

 it before all others, because its lawn and garden were 

 surrounded by more than a hundred species of shrubs 



