Part II. Wherein the Author recounts

his Observations on Agriculture.

- By Nicholas Gould -

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r he King of Brobdingnag, as

the Abodes of a sturdy Yeomanry and Peasantry; but the Inhabitants work for the most part i n distant Cities, and divide their Days between the alternate Pains of Toil and Travel. During the Hours of Labour, these Villages seem scarcely more populous than the Ruins of Tyre or Nineveh; the Men being absent i n the City, the Women i n the Market Town, and the Children collected from far and wide into a single School, like Felons into a County Gaol.

I related i n an earlier volume of these Travels, gave i t for his

^ / Opinion, that whoever could * -^^make two Ears of Corn, or two Blades of Grass, to grow upon a Spot of Ground, where only One grew before, would deserve better of Mankind, and do more essentia l Service to his Country, than the whole Race of Politicians put together. The Truth of this Proposition, which indeed seems self-evident, I never disputed unti l I came into Automobilia; a Land which seems like to overthrow at once all the Beliefs common to Mankind from the Days of Adam up to our own Age. Who would doubt, that i t is better to be rich than poor? Or that the Duty of the Physician is to preserve, not to curtail, Life? Or that i t is well to relieve irksome Labour by whatever mechanical Means may be devised? Or that the Man who leaves to the World a numerous Progeny is to be deemed happier than he who dies without Issue? Yet all these Tenets, the Fruit of the accumulated Experience of our Race, I am now led to believe to be no more than peculiar and temporary Effects of the usual Condition of Life: for my Observations i n this Land have dispelled my Belief i n their universal Applicability I t may be thought Presumption i n me thus to set myself up against the Wisdom of the Ages: but the unprejudiced Reader, who shall follow attentively my Account of the Polity and Oeconomy of the Automobilians, wil l come at last to a like Conclusion with myself.

The Work of the fields, therefore, is i n the Hands of a few hired Labourers; two or three of whom suffice for the Cultivation of a Farm of several hundred Acres i n Extent. This Herculean Task they easily perform by the Aid of diverse mighty engines, whereby they plough, sow, and harvest, milk the Kine and feed the Swine, wit h as littl e Sweat and Dir t as a housemaid shelling Peas. Their Beasts are not suffered to roam the Meadows and graze at

'In their Farming they

employ the alchemical Arts

to great and terrible Effect.'

their Will ; rather they are penned Side by Side i n Stalls; Summer and Winter alike, with no more Sight of the Sun than Slaves at the Oars of a Moorish Galley: while their Masters, being resolved not to take the Cow to the Pasture, are at Pains to take the Pasture to the Cow. I t is a sad Fact, that the Beasts so nur­

tured lose i n Flavour what they gain i n Flesh: but the Generality of Automobilians hold this of very littl e Account, being accustomed to esteem Quantity i n all Things more highly than Quality

Since I made Mention above of the Propagation of Corn and Grass, I wil l touch straightaway upon the agricultural State of this singular People, reserving their other Peculiarities for later Consideration. They pride themselves hugely on the Beauty and Fertility of their native Land: but i t is agreed among those expert i n such Matters that the Former is grievously diminished of recent Years, while the Latter cannot be long maintained i n its present rank and unnatural Exuberance. There are, throughout the Country, Villages of good brick Houses, which one would suppose

I n their Farming they employ the alchemical Arts to great and terrible Effect, and there is no Husbandman here but has i n his Barn Poisons enough to gratify the murderous Passions of a Nero or a Borgia; wit h these baneful Essences they ever and again drench and douse their Fields, for i t is a Maxim with them that i t were better ten innocent Creatures should perish, than that one Pest or Weed should live unpunished. So by Degrees they are eradicating from the Land al l livin g Things, whether Beast or Plant, save only those which exist by their Sufferance and for their Service. But whether they be wise or no, thus to destroy the Creator's Gifts, and at great Expense build a Desert, where i t has not

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