THE 'STEAM-CULTIVATOR/ 191 



impracticable : indeed no one can find any good rea- 

 son why it should be so. There is no particular diffi- 

 culty or peculiarity about the mechanism of cultiva- 

 tion, to " forbid the banns " between the soil and the 

 steam-engine : it is generally felt that the match will 

 take place some day, slow and unpromising as the 

 courtship may seem at present. I join hands in this 

 belief; and in the meantime ask your special atten- 

 tion to these preliminary points, which may help to 

 account for past delay, and possibly to advance the 

 question from its present silent condition. Silent, 

 because invention is apt to be so. Self-interest keeps 

 it so ; and in the meantime a generation may pass by, 

 and nothing be practically done towards a consumma- 

 tion which, once accomplished, it requires no ghost 

 to see that Great Britain would leap ahead in agri- 

 culture as much as her mines of coal and iron, and 

 her still deeper and richer mine of mechanical skill 

 and improvement, have led her to do in every art and 

 manufacture upon which the breath of steam has been 

 brought to bear. 



Here in fact lies the grand motive in the matter ; 

 and one so emphatically important in reference to 

 this particular application of steam-power yet to be 

 achieved that one cannot help wishing that all who 



