Do you think that to be an agriculturist it is necessary to have tilled the earth or fattened fowls oneself?
 Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (1856). copy citation

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Author Gustave Flaubert
Source Madame Bovary
Topic science farming
Date 1856
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2413/2413-h/2413-h.htm

Context

“And, in fact, the composition of the manure, the fermentation of liquids, the analyses of gases, and the influence of miasmata, what, I ask you, is all this, if it isn't chemistry, pure and simple?»
The landlady did not answer. Homais went on—
«Do you think that to be an agriculturist it is necessary to have tilled the earth or fattened fowls oneself? It is necessary rather to know the composition of the substances in question—the geological strata, the atmospheric actions, the quality of the soil, the minerals, the waters, the density of the different bodies, their capillarity, and what not.” source
Original quote

Meaning and analysis

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