186 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



great-coat ; " he must be able to mix Fire and 

 Water first, I 'm thinking ! " 



" And make STEAM ? " said the other. 



Mr. Greening turned short round at the answer, 

 as he was going to the door, and looked a moment 

 fixedly at the speaker. Both smiled : but there 

 was a difference in the smiles. And they walked 

 out together.* 



* The inveterate prejudice of the imaginary Mr. Greening 

 against "clay "soils is quite natural to those unaccustomed to 

 them, while they are, in reality, when properly treated, the 

 most productive and durable of all others, alluvions cxcepted. 

 Clay soils require more immediate capital in their preparation 

 than sands, or the lighter loams, and a greater amount of 

 mechanical application by way of appropriate implements 

 than the others, and a closer regard to times and seasons in 

 working them. But they retain the manures longer ; arc 

 more prolific in their own original elements of fertility ; they 

 retain those elements with greater tenacity, giving off only 

 so much as the growing crop demands to perfect its growth, 

 and holding the residue in store for the future; are much 

 more tenacious of the grasses, to which they are most admi- 

 rably adapted ; and yield the heaviest and most certain crops 

 of wheat. There are objections, however, to clays, hard to 

 overcome by those unacquainted with their cultivation. They 

 are sticky, clammy, and, in the wrong season, hard and un- 

 pleasant to work; they often require draining when lying 



