are indulged in, it should be ascertained that all the implements,
great and small, have been repaired for work--the plough-irons all
new laid--the harrow-tines new laid and sharpened, and fastened
firmly into the bulls of the harrows--the harness all tight and
strong--the sacks new patched and mended, that no seed-corn be spilt
upon the road--the seed-corn thrashed, measured up, and sacked, and
what is last wanted put into the granary--the horses new shod, that
no casting or breaking of a single shoe may throw a pair of horses
out of work for even one single hour--in short, to have every thing
prepared to start for work when the first notice of spring shall be
heralded in the sky.

"But suppose the contrary of all this to happen; suppose that the
plough-irons and harrow-tines have to be laid and sharpened, when
perhaps to-morrow they may be wanted in the field--a stack to be
thrashed for seed-corn or for horse's corn in the midst of the sowing
of a field--suppose, too, that only a week's work has been lost, in
winter, of a single pair of horses, and the consequence is, that six
acres of land have to be ploughed when they should be sown, that is,
a loss of a whole day of six pair of horses, or of two days of three
pair--suppose all these inconveniences to happen in the busy season,
and the provoking reflection occurs that the loss incurred now was
occasioned by trifling offputs in winter. Compare the value of these
trifles with the risk of finding you unprepared for sowing beans or
spring-wheat. Suppose, once more, that instead of having turnips in
store for the cattle, when the oat-seed is begun in the fields, and
that, instead of being able to prosecute that indispensable piece of
work without interruption, you are obliged to send away a portion of
the draughts to bring in turnips, which _must be brought in_, and
brought in, too, from hand to mouth, it being impossible, in the
circumstances, to store them. In short, suppose that the season of
incessant labour arrives and finds you unprepared to go along with
it,--and what are the consequences? Every creature about you, man,
woman, and beast, are then toiled beyond endurance every day, not to
_keep up_ work, which is a lightsome task, but to _make up_ work,
which is a toilsome task, but which you said yo