It has been nobly said that husbandry is the mother and
 nurse of the other arts. For when husbandry
 flourishes, all the other arts are in good fettle;
 but whenever the land is compelled to lie waste, the
 other arts of landsmen and mariners alike well-nigh
 perish. Well,
 Socrates , 
 replied Critobulus to this, I think you are right
 so far. But in husbandry a man can rely very little
 on forecast. For hailstorms and frosts sometimes,
 and droughts and rains and blight ruin schemes well
 planned and well carried out; and sometimes
 well-bred stock is miserably destroyed by an
 outbreak of disease.