THE CONQUEST OF NATURE 



elements are at work defacing it, preparing its slow 

 but certain ruin. Summer heat and winter cold expand 

 and contract materials of every kind; rain and wind 

 wear and warp and twist; the oxygen of the air gnaws 

 into stone and iron alike; in a word, all the elements 

 are at work undoing what man has accomplished. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 



In the field of the agriculturist it is the same story. 

 The earth which brings forth its crop of unwholesome 

 weeds so bountifully, resists man's approaches when he 

 strives to bring it under cultivation. Only by the most 

 careful attention can useful grains be made to grow 

 where the wildlings swarmed in profusion. Not only 

 do wind and rain, blighting heat and withering cold 

 menace the crops; but weeds invade the fields, the 

 germs of fungoid pests lurk everywhere; and myriad 

 insects attack orchard and meadow and grain field 

 in devastating legions. 



Similarly the beasts which were so rugged and re- 

 sistant while in the wild state, become tender and 

 susceptible to disease when made useful by domestica- 

 tion. Aforetime they roamed at large, braving every 

 temperature and thriving in all weathers. But now 

 they must be housed and cared for so tenderly that 

 they become, as Thoreau said, the keepers of men, 

 rather than kept by men, so much more independent 

 are they than their alleged owners. Tender of con- 

 stitution, domesticated beasts must be housed, to pro- 

 tect them from the blasts in which of yore their forebears 



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