116 
AVILLIAM SMITH : HIS MAPS AND MEMOIRS 
is of much more consequence to society, than one half of the world 
is either aware of or inclined to believe. Youth is the time for collect- 
ing the useful information which lays the foundation of that knowledge, 
which is so highly beneficial to ourselves and society — for any man who 
employs his thoughts, may have an opportunity of making many 
serviceable observations, and suggesting hints for the purposes of 
improvement, without being educated as an author." 
" This," he tells us, " has been my own case " ! He was also 
fond of " poetry," good sprinklings of which occur among the pages. 
I will quote one sample : — 
" Where barren moss or thistles only grow ; 
Where bogs their brown and useless herbage shew ; 
Where burning suns and dusty blowing sands 
With poverty o'erspread surrounding lands ; — 
In meads where stagnant waters starve the soil, 
There prove thy art, and there direct thy toil. 
Tho' nature on thy infant efforts frown. 
Rich plenty shall maturer labours crown ! 
If art and science point the prudent way, 
Where flocks and herds their annual tribute pay." 
These lines almost suggest that Smith " made them up as he 
went along." 
The evidence of Strata ''-Smith, being the author of this book 
appears at different places. On p. 54, after stating that he had to 
take up all the drains made on Prisley Bog by his predecessor, he 
adds : — " Hence it appears necessary for the designer of plans of 
irrigation to be fully master of the art of draining, which cannot be 
well understood but by a knowledge of the strata." And again (pp. 
20-21) : " Having been much accustomed to make particular remarks 
on the appearance of the country, in the course of numerous and ex- 
tensive journies for the purpose of business and collecting information 
on the strata, it may not be amiss to point out some of the places 
which appear to be equally calculated for improvement by irrigation." 
From a list of " Books on Agriculture, Farming, &c., Printed for 
