196 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



member of the British Association has recently said: "As 

 the nineteenth century had its industrial revolution, so will 

 the twentieth century have its agricultural revolution." 



So swiftly, too, are these changes rushing upon us that, in 

 the words of the Looking-glass Queen : " It takes all the 

 running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want 

 to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast 

 as that." 



It certainly takes a high rate of speed, in these days, to 

 keep pace with agriculture. It is hard enough for the indi- 

 vidual to adjust himself to the new ideals and conditions, but 

 still harder for a whole community. Two contradictory ele- 

 ments belong in every locality ; it is always so. Discuss farm 

 pleasures and profits with a philanthropist or a social worker 

 and the response is quick and enthusiastic ; he sees a vision, 

 even though he does not know exactly how to realize it. 

 Try, however, to talk with some grizzled farmer as you jog 

 along with him behind old Nell, and ten to one he will omi- 

 nously shake his head. He has never dreamed ; he is too 

 f< practical." To your disappointment the topic is closed al- 

 most before it is begun. These instances show how the past 

 and the future overlap in the present. The prophecy of suc- 

 cess confronts the story of defeat. It is the educator who 

 must look squarely at both. 



In agriculture, as in everything else, the big things attract 

 attention first. Merely to hear about them makes the pulse 

 beat quicker. Some of these achievements impress us as we 

 whiz past them on the long-distance train ; some of them 

 we may be lucky enough to visit ; plenty of them we can read 

 about. Among the number are the ten-thousand-acre wheat 

 fields, with the thirty-two-horse-power reaper, the great rainless 

 farms, the wonderful stretches of built-up soil. They include 

 the acres of glass frames that, like ponds in the distance, 



