202 NATURE NEAR LONDON 



the reaping-machine better than the drain furrows and 

 raised " lands " of the valley system. 



It is somewhat curious that the steam plough, the most 

 remarkable application of machinery to agriculture, in 

 this respect resembles the village-made wheel plough. 

 The plough drawn by steam power in like manner turns 

 the second furrow side by side into the first, always 

 throwing the earth the same way, and leaving the ground 

 level. This is one of its defects on heavy, wet land, 

 as it does not drain the surface. But upon the slopes 

 of the Downs no drains or raised " lands " are needed, 

 and the wheel plough answers perfectly. 



So perfectly, indeed, does it answer that no iron plough 

 has yet been invented that can beat it, and while the 

 valleys and plains are now almost wholly worked with 

 factory-made ploughs, the South Downs are cultivated 

 with the ploughs made in the villages by the wheel- 

 wrights. A wheelwright is generally regularly employed 

 by two or three farms, which keep him in constant work. 

 There is not, perhaps, another home-made implement 

 of old English agriculture left in use ; certainly, none 

 at once so curious and interesting, and, when drawn by 

 oxen, so thoroughly characteristic. 



Under the September sun, flowers may still be found 

 in sheltered places, as at the side of furze, on the highest 

 of the Downs. Wild thyme continues to bloom the 

 shepherd's thyme wild mignonette, blue scabious, white 

 dropwort, yellow bedstraw, and the large purple blooms 

 of greater knapweed. Here and there a blue field 

 gentian is still in flower ; " eggs and bacon " grow 

 beside the waggon tracks. Grasshoppers hop among 

 the short dry grass ; bees and humble-bees are buzzing 

 about, and there are places quite bright with yellow 

 hawkweeds. 



