Introductory 9 



For there is no lack of labourers on the great larm. 

 They are employed by the million in all parts of it, and 

 though they are always ready to reclaim any portion 

 which has been taken from them, they nevertheless 

 attend impartially to the whole —the small part which 

 man has taken under his own care, as well as that 

 which he leaves at present entirely to their manage- 

 ment. 



And a very sorry condition the human farmer's fields 

 would be in if they were left to himself alone, in spite 

 of all his improved modern appliances and scientific 

 knowledge. 



' It is an easy error to consider that he who has tilled 

 the ground and sown the seed is the author of his crop.' 

 And for the most part, perhaps, the farmer realizes but 

 little of the vast debt which he owes to the unseen, 

 unnoticed, and often abused labourers, who are inces- 

 santly at work for him. 



Of course, he knows very well that he cannot do 

 without sun and rain, and he will readily allow that 

 dew, frost and wind are useful, and that at present he 

 could hardly do without them ; but grant him these — 

 and what are they after all but labourers borrowed 

 from the larger farm — and surely his improved ploughs 

 and harrows, and his patent manures, will be able 

 to manage the rest. In the days when a forked 

 stick was the best plough, no doubt things were 

 different, and the farmer was more dependent upon 

 what the natural labourers were pleased to do for him, 

 but now I 



Well, let him try! There is an island just risen 

 above the waves here, or there is a stream of cooled 

 lava there — nice, fresh, virgin surfaces both of them, 



