232 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FAEM. 



of all these epithet processes in one comprehensive 

 act and word Cultivation. 



Is it not astonishing, with such experiences as we 

 have before us in England, that since the first intro- 

 duction of Steam-power to the notice and assistance 

 of mankind, nobody has ever yet attempted to apply 

 it in its own way to the definable and simple work 

 of cultivation. It is put to cut chaff, to make saw- 

 dust, to granulate powder, to make pins' heads, to 

 reduce all sorts of coarse material into fine and 

 all by wheels circular motion, and nothing else, 

 for nothing else it will accept but nobody can 

 persuade their minds to believe that by the self- 

 same action, and no other, it can cut up a seam of 

 soil eight inches deep and six feet wide, and leave 

 it behind, granulated to as coarse or fine a texture 

 as the nature of the seed or season may require, and 

 inverted in its bed. It is not plowing, it is not 

 digging, it is not harrowing, raking, hoeing, rolling, 

 scarifying, clod-crushing, scuffling, grubbing, ridg- 

 ing, casting, gathering, that we want : all these are 

 the time-honored, time-bothered means to a certain 

 RESULT. That result is a seed-bed : and a seed-bed 

 is, simply described, a layer of soil from six to twelve 

 inches in depth, rendered fine by comminution, and 

 as far as possible inverted during the process. 



