This is a book made up of fragments. The Master once said "Gather up the
fragments that nothing be lost." It may be that victuals will be found
here that may feed those who cannot sit down to a meal. Many of the
articles have appeared in _Joyful News_ already, but, perhaps, are none
the worse for that. We send out this little book in the hope that both
crust and crumb will be eaten!
I. SPIRITUAL FARMING.--NO. 1.
DRAINING.
If the men who farmed England in the olden time could return, few things
would surprise them more than the condition of the land. Many a field
now bearing good crops each year, was in "the good old times" moorland or
fen. Sheep and cattle graze where once only wild birds could live.
Drainage has made the change. The land, once too cold and wet to allow
anything valuable to grow, has been by grips and drain pipes, made to
produce food for man and beast.
Is it not so on God's farm? "Ye are His husbandry," and just as the
farmer knows that if he cannot have his wet land drained, his seed will
be starved, or the young corn perish with the cold, so we who toil in the
Lord's fields need to learn that in many places the first thing to be
done is to