Page:The home of a naturalist (IA homeofnaturalist00edmouoft).pdf/15



It was a plain old building, and small. It resembled a Scottish farmhouse; and the fields which surrounded it, and the steading, showed that its master was somewhat of a farmer. He had scientific theories regarding agriculture, which he was always putting to practical test. Some succeeded beyond his expectations, others failed; not because Science "would not work," but because experiments done on so small a scale cannot pay Science; and then Ignorance, in the form of money-grubbing practical farmers, laughed at the Naturalist and his theories.

The house stood on a gentle slope, overlooking one of those land-locked fiords which characterise the Shetland Isles. Behind rose a tiny range of hills, whose varied peaks resemble those of the Cheviots. The house was, as I said, small and unpretending,, more so than other houses in the place; but nevertheless, a stranger would have his attention attracted to it before all others, because its lawn and garden were surrounded by more than a hundred species of shrubs