phosphate, and guano, liquid and solid,
have been sown by the progressive tenant! Lavishly and yet
judiciously, not once only, but many times, have the fertilizing
elements been restored to the soil, and more than restored--added to
it, till the earth itself has grown richer and stronger. The
scarifier and the deep plough have turned up the subsoil and exposed
the hard, stiff under-clods to the crumbling action of the air and
the mysterious influence of light. Never before since Nature
deposited those earthy atoms there in the slow process of some
geological change has the sunshine fallen on them, or their latent
power been called forth. Well-made and judiciously laid drains carry
away the flow of water from the winter rains and floods--no longer
does there remain a species of reservoir at a certain depth,
chilling the tender roots of the plants as they strike downwards,
lowering the entire temperature of the field. Mounds have been
levelled, good roads laid down, nothing left undone that can
facilitate operations or aid in the production of strong, succulent
vegetation. Large flocks of well-fed sheep, folded on the
corn-lands, assist the artificial manure, and perhaps even surpass
it. When at last the plant comes to maturity and turns colour under
the scorching sun, behold a widespread ocean of wheat, an English
gold-field, a veritable Yellow Sea, bowing in waves before the
southern breeze--a sight full of peaceful poetry. The stalk is tall
and strong, good in colour, fit for all purposes. The ear is full,
large; the increase is truly a hundredfold. Or it may be roots. By
these means the progressive agriculturist has produced a crop of
swedes or mangolds which in individual size and collective weight
per acre would seem to an old-fashioned farmer perfectly fabulous.
Now, here are many great benefits. First, the tenant himself reaps
his reward, and justly adds to his private store. Next, the property
of the landlord is improved, and increases in value. The labourer
gets better house accommodation, gardens, and higher wages. The
country at large is supplied with finer qualities and greater
quantities of food, and those who are engaged in trade and
manufactures, and even in commerce, feel an increased vitality in
their various occupations.

On the other side of the hedge, where the oxen were at plough, the
earth is forced to be self-supporting--to restore to itself how it
can the elements carried away in wheat and straw