intelligent ingenuity among our countrymen," says Mr. Turner, truly," that we may expect that all improvements which can be invented and brought to bear usefully on this point, will in time occur, as our population enlarges, because that increase will bring more acting minds into existence, and stimulate their activity."

These views are thrown out, not with any other intention than that of addressing an argument to our ignorance. I speak of possibilities, not certainties, nor even, perhaps, probabilities, in some of the instances mentioned; and the inference I would draw, is this,-that the boundaries of agricultural improvement are far from being capable of distinct definition, and may be placed at a distance far more remote than our present knowledge can warrant us to assign. From past experience, we have reason to conclude, that the field will gradually open, as the necessities of man require. Such is the undeviating system; and as this system is not the result of chance, but the appointment of an infinitely intelligent and all-powerful Mind, we may rest assured, that it will continue to fulfil its high destination to the very last. The power of producing additional food, by whatever means it may be acquired, will undoubtedly prove coextensive with the increasing propagation of our species. Both shall have an end,—so the Divine oracles declare,-but they will end together.

On the preceding conjectures, however, I am far from resting the case. There are, at present, powers at work, and materials in existence, which sufficiently indicate a vast future accession of the means of subsistence, and prove the beneficent intentions, and the wise arrangements, of Providence. To these, I shall advert in the next paper.

Meanwhile, I conclude at present with the following pi

sufficient to prevent its employment; and it is only fit to be used on such a locality as the Lochar Moss. The saving of food in the article of horses alone, would be immense were this experiment to succeed. It is calculated by Mr. Brown, in the New Farmer's Journal, (1st November, 1833,) that the horses now used in husbandry alone are maintained at a yearly expenditure of thirty millions. This expenditure is, of course, chiefly in food. Each horse is said by him to require eight times the soil and substance which would supply food for a man.

ous observations of the well-informed writer, whom, on this part of my subject, I chiefly consult, and whose spirit I would gladly infuse into my own pages :-"Let us repose calmly on the fact, that society has hitherto been supplied, regularly, from the natural system of things, with the food it has required. We have, in this advanced period of the world, enough for our present wants; and all the providing causes from which this sufficiency has resulted to us, are still in their efficacious operation, and discover no sign of diminution, of general failure, or of distressing insufficiency. The same benevolent plan, and all its associated purposes, are in steady execution; and the true principle of our trust and hope, has been delivered to us from the highest authority. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.' As long as He means us to exist on earth, Nature will be made to yield the surplus which that existence will require. He must be expunged from his creation, before the result can be otherwise."'*

FOURTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

HUMAN FOOD.-PROVISION FOR THE FUTURE-MEANS NOW IN EXISTENCE.

IN a former paper, the conclusion has been drawn, that, were the inhabitants of the earth to increase, at the rate which has been experienced in England for the last century, supposing agricultural skill meanwhile to be stationary, it would be, at least, three centuries before the whole improvable land on our globe could be fully occupied. This supposition, however, is far more unfavorable than existing facts seem to warrant ; and many reasons might be advanced to prove, that, events continuing to proceed as they have hitherto done, it would require an immensely longer period, before the soil capable of raising human

* Sacred History of the World, vol. iii. Letter 30.

subsistence would be exhausted. Taking for granted, however, that the calculations already made are just, and descending from conjecture and speculation to existing facts, let us see if there are not in the powers of Nature with which we are acquainted, indications of a provision for the existence of a far more numerous population, than would result from the mere cultivation of an additional extent of surface.

I have, in the Summer' volume, instanced the banana tree, as a vegetable product, which might be cultivated to such an extent, as to increase, in a very extraordinary degree, the amount of human food. It is said, by Humboldt, to be capable of supporting twenty-five individuals, on a patch of ground, which, if sown in wheat, would only support a single person. It is propagated with the utmost ease; it is a native of every tropical region; and flourishes freely, wherever the mean heat exceeds 75° of Fahrenheit. All hot countries seem

equally to favor the growth of its fruit; and it has been cultivated in Cuba, in situations where the thermometer descends so low as 45°. Now, this tree, which yields a nutritive and grateful food,* might be cultivated to an extent immensely greater than has yet taken place. Humboldt remarks, that a European, newly arrived in the torrid zone, is struck with nothing so much as the extreme smallness of the spots under cultivation, round a cabin which contains a numerous family of Indians. He mentions this circumstance, to confirm his statement of the prolific and nutritive qualities of the tree; but it, at the same time, indicates the vast extent of ground which might yet be brought into cultivation, and, as a necessary consequence, the amazing accession which, by this means alone, might be made to the population of the tropics.

In temperate climates, the recent introduction of the potato, as an article of husbandry, shows, in one instance,

*The ripe fruit of the banana is preserved, like the fig, by being dried in the sun. This dried banana is an agreeable and healthy aliMeal is extracted from the fruit, by cutting it in slices, drying it in the sun, and then pounding it."—Library of Entertaining Knowledge-Vegetable Substances.

ment.

what may be done for the more extensive production of human food, by exploring the storehouse of Nature. The growth of this plant has, within the last century, produced a new era in our agriculture. "The potato has this great and peculiar advantage, over all other substantive esculent vegetables, that it can be not only cultivated in places where no others can be profitably raised, but that it can be cultivated there at small expense; while it is less subject to disease, and more secure against degenerating in those situations than on richer lands. Consequently, in a soil so diversified as that of Britain," and the remark may apply to other regions," an almost unlimited supply of potatoes may be raised, without any diminution of the breadth of profitable crops of the cerealia, the legumes, or indeed of any other useful plant."* The author from whom I have quoted these sentences, gives, from Mr. Jacob's Corn Tracts, a calculation, by which it appears that an acre of potatoes will maintain a number of individuals, more than double of what is capable of being maintained on the same place, from wheat, the most nutritive of all the corn plants. Here, then, we have an example of a power, inherent in vegetable nature, which has only lately been developed, by means of which, alone, a capacity of human nourishment has been obtained, surpassing its former limits, at a rate which cannot be estimated at less than three or fourfold.

It is very remarkable, and must be regarded as altogether providential, that this accession to human food should have been obtained at a time when, on account of the natural progress of society from other causes, such an accession had become a matter of great importance. This, indeed, is but an example of those facts in the history of the human race, in relation to food, which distinctly mark the hand of an overruling Intelligence. The whole records of the world are full of similar instances. They confirm the truth of the principle, already stated, that the intention of the Creator, in adjusting the relation between the demand for subsistence, and the supply,

**Library of Entertaining Knowledge-The Potato.

was, that there should be a constant pressure on the one hand, and a constant power of yielding to that pressure on the other; and they give additional assurance to the anticipation, that this system will continue, so long as the human race exists.

In connexion with this subject, and as a further proof that vegetable nature is full of resources, which have not yet been called into action, I may refer to the curious statements contained in Mr. Turner's recent volume, to show that human nutriment is contained in all classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. From an interesting induction of particulars, this author shows, that there is scarcely a living creature, which is not used as food by some of our species. After particularizing many of the most nauseous of the larger animals, both belonging to the land and waters, as eaten with relish by different tribes, he adds, -"But ants, grubs, snails, worms, and reptiles, are as repulsive, yet these are liked and used. Snakes and serpents are eaten in Egypt and Western Africa; lizards, mice, rats, and caterpillars, also on the Niger; ants are eaten by the Hottentots, either boiled or raw, or roasted after the manner of coffee. Several kinds of grubs are eaten in civilized communities, as well as by those we deem savage. Mr. Kirby concurs with Dr. Darwin in recommending the addition of both cockchafers and their larvæ, to our own well-filled tables. The Greeks feasted so much on their grasshoppers, as to distinguish critically their different flavors. Locusts are highly valued, and dressed in various ways, by the Arabs, and are not less precious to several other nations.”*

From all this, Mr. Turner concludes, that the convertibility of animal matter into means of subsistence, is bounded only by the use of it; and that whatever any people are not in the habit of feeding on, is either unsalutary or unpalatable to them; but whatever they accustom themselves to, becomes agreeable and nourishing; and, therefore, as long as there are any classes of the inferior animal kingdom on the earth, mankind cannot starve.

* Sacred History of the World, vol. iii. Letter 31.