It is no wonder that Uncle Sam has won every war in which he has engaged ; the eye and hand of his boys had yearly training in throwing those guinea-egg apples which nobody ever ate and which defied the rot for two years after they were picked !

" Horse Power and Steel are more effective Instruments of Culture than Bent Knees and Finger Nails".

Now that the trees have been better trained, they are more modest and the insects sing the old "saw," paraphrased, "the early worm catches the apple." Then, apples were dear at fifty cents per barrel in "shin plasters." Now, three to five dollars can be realized for the best kinds of perfect fruit; but in order to secure it you will need to have constantly on hand a supply of Paris green, London purple and Bordeaux mixture, a patent pump, a half dozen improved nozzles, et cetera, and learn to use them at the right time. But in order to discover the kinds, times and seasons, a fair acquaintance must he made with the Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Cole-optera, Hemiptera, Orthoptera and all the omnipresent-optera, or, as many friends as enemies may be destroyed.

It will readily be seen that mere physical energy counts for less and practical knowledge for more, now than at any other period of human existence. There is no use of grumbling and looking backward, for the track is cold and the game is in front; it may be difficult to overtake, but if so, the pleasure is the longer and the reward the greater. The then, of the old cow pumpkins, sour grapes and wild plums has passed away. The now, of Reine Claude plums, at two cent each, Crawfords "cheap at five for a quarter," and Niagaras at ten cents a bunch, has been fully ushered in. A little sand, alkali, heat and skill, and they are preserved, and man partakes of food fit for the gods, without spot or blemish.

It may be asked, is this progress, or only an ingenious trick by which food is made dearer, "cornered?" It is found that little or no improvement can be made in plants or animals without improving their food; knowing the kind of food a nation consumes the stage of their cultivation can be accurately determined. The problem then was quantity; now, it is quality. Then, it was no uncommon thing to send two barrels of poor fruit to pay the freight of the third, which was no better.

The soil, the plant, the animal and law, these are the factors with which we have to do ; even in this advanced age they are too often unknown quantities. The value of the X and Y must be discovered, or they must be eliminated, or they will eliminate the factor. Now we discover the secrets of growth and decay, reproduction and development, energy and work, in order that the lower and the grosser may be changed, according to the law of the correlation of forces, into the higher and more refined. Then the chief effort was to keep the wolf from the door and satisfy the protest of the land, as it called for justice, by declaring that one from three leaves three. The grandchildren have discovered the mistake, though they have too great respect for their ancestors and that ancient Dabol arithmetic to make much stir about it. Now the effort is to discover how the three sluggish units may be made to do the work of six, so that one from three will leave five.

But how is this to be done ? By going on setting fruit trees in fence-corners and on stony, steep hillsides which have been impoverished by fifty Years of cropping, and then leaving them to the tender mercies of the cattle and the myriad hungry insect enemies, subject to hunger and thirst till they look like Pharaoh's "lean kine," and need no Joseph to foretell that they are but the visible indices of a coming famine ? The grandchildren educated to the rule of three will never learn how to prevent or combat these plagues, but they will soon be painfully aware that there are more of them than visited the Egyptians, and it will be strange if they do not imitate the Israelites, and pay themselves for their unrequited toil, by "borrowing" and fleeing to a land where physical law is observed and justice reigns. Happy for them if they flee before they have lost faith in the law which governs all nature's modes of dealing with man, and have somehow discovered that mind is above matter, that servants obey those who know how to direct, that discoveries are made by those who can see, and that seeing is the result of long and intelligent inspection! A fact may be found out by accident, but the putting of it to the best use can only be accomplished by one who has learned the laws applicable to the facts.

A Pennsylvanian stumbled upon the telephone, but a Bell commanded it to transmit every sound, tone and inflection, and it obeyed. '

At first the land was very kind to the youthful nation ; now she asks for the utmost skill of trained manhood. A soil capable of producing a good wheat crop contains in the first twelve inches from five to ten thousand pounds of potash, three to six thousand of phosphoric acid and three to eight thousand of nitrogen. In one case, it was found that of the 4,650 pounds of nitrogen in a soil, only sixty-three were available for the growth of plants. A crop of good Indian corn removes in ear and stalk from sixty to sixty-five pounds of nitrogen per acre, so that this fertile land could produce but one crop of corn, unless the inert nitrogen could be set free. A horse tied never so close to a locked granery full of oats will be none the fatter unless his owner have skill enough to pick the lock.

Every occupier of land has the usufruct right to these valuable elements of plant food, if he have the skill to take them from the soil; he may put them into circulation, but he may not waste or destroy them. The particle of matter liberated to-day passes into the plant which nourishes the animal which ministers to man's wants, and then is returned to the soil in a more available condition than at first! Dormant energy, which might as well not have been created for all the good it has yet done, is being put into circulation to be rotated through 'countless cycles. Then, we waited till the elements chose, in their erratic moods, to give an opportunity to thrust in the plow; now, opportunity is made by thrusting in drain tile.

Instead of gleaning the half developed fruits from weedy fence-corners, we transplant to the orchard, and dig, and dung, and graft, and command the plant to change its form and fruit; it does not always obey, because the laws which govern it are not fully understood. Plants of use and beauty are all about us, giving hints of their possibilities and impatiently waiting for an intelligent commander. For thousands of years they have kept their secrets well, and laughed to scorn the ignorance of their careless masters. Then, animals grew as they liked ; now, they grow as directed, but always in harmony with law; but they say in unmistakable language, we obey not, nor yield, unless your intelligence is superior to ours.

Then, few opportunities were open for acquiring that knowledge and training which leads to mastery; now, all doors are open to those who will. Then, one man's head and another's hand were trained, often producing two mostrosities. Now, the head and hand are trained simultaneously ; a thousand added comforts appear, innocent pleasures never dreamed of spring up, and the forces of Nature are chained to our chariot wheels. But the end is not yet; energy in the soil and the plant never yet utilized, impatiently awaits discovery and the unfolding of the laws which govern it.

Cornell University. I. P. Roberts.