NATURE NEAR LONDON s&i 



There are no machine lines no lines filed 

 out in iron or cut by the lathe to the draughts- 

 man's design, drawn with straight-edge and ruler 

 on paper. The thing has been put together bit 

 by bit : how many thousand, thousand clods must 

 have been turned in the furrows before the idea 

 arose, and the curve to be given to this or that 

 part grew upon the mind as the branch grows 

 on the tree ! There is not a sharp edge or sharp 

 corner in it; it is all bevelled and smoothed and 

 fluted as if it had been patiently carved with 

 a knife, so that, touch it where you will, it 

 handles pleasantly. 



In these curved lines and smoothness, in this per- 

 fect adaptability of means to end, there is the spirit 

 of art showing itself, not with colour or crayon, 

 but working in tangible material substance. The 

 makers of this plough not the designer the 

 various makers, who gradually put it together, 

 had many things to consider. The fields where 

 it had to work were, for the most part, on a slope, 

 often thickly strewn with stones which jar and 

 fracture iron. 



The soil was thin, scarce enough on the upper 

 part to turn a furrow, deepening to nine inches 

 or so at the bottom. So quickly does the rain 

 sink in, and so quickly does it dry, that the teams 

 work in almost every weather, while those in the 

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