employment. It has often grieved me to see
the poor manufacturers crowded together in close rooms, and confined for
the whole day to the most uniform and sedentary employment, instead of
being engaged in that innocent and salutary kind of labour, which Nature
seems to have assigned to man for the immediate acquirement of comfort,
and for the preservation of his existence. I am sure that you agree with
me in thinking so, Mrs. B.?

MRS. B.

I am entirely of your opinion, my dear, in regard to the importance of
agriculture; but as the conveniences of life, which we are all enjoying,
are not derived merely from the soil, I am far from wishing to
depreciate manufactures. Besides, as the labour of one man is sufficient
to produce food for several, those whose industry is not required in
tillage must do something in return for the food that is provided for
them. They exchange, consequently, the accommodations for the
necessaries of life. Thus the carpenter and the weaver lodge and clothe
the peasant, who supplies them with their daily bread. The greater stock
of provisions, therefore, which the husbandman produces, the greater is
the quantity of accommodation which the artificer prepares. Such are the
happy effects which naturally result from civilised society. It would be
wiser, therefore, to endeavour to improve the situation of those who are
engaged in manufactures, than to indulge in vain declamations on the
hardships to which they are too frequently exposed.

But we must not yet take our leave of the subject of agriculture; we
have prepared the soil, it remains for us now to sow the seed. In this
operation we must be careful not to bury it too deep in the ground, as
the access of air is absolutely necessary to its germination; the earth
must, therefore, lie loose and light over it, in order that the air may
penetrate. Hence the use of ploughing and digging, harrowing and raking,
&c. A certain degree of heat and moisture, such as usually takes place
in the spring, is likewise necessary.

CAROLINE.

One would imagine you were going to describe the decomposition of an old
plant, rather than the formation of a new one; for you have enumerated
all the requisites of fermentation.

MRS. B.

Do you forget, my dear, that the young plant derives its existence from
the destruction of the seed, and that it is actually by the saccharine
fermentation that the latter is decomposed?

CAROLINE.

True; I wonder that I did not