MACHINERY OF THE CLAYS. 221 



cious operation. Here the new power has not yet come 

 in to suggest new processes. The hind ploughs as 

 his fathers ploughed, as the Roman ploughed, as the 

 Egyptian ploughed: and with even less advantage: 

 for in the dry soils and climates of Rome and Egypt 

 the plough was an apter instrument of cultivation 

 than in our damp soil under a northern sky. 



True, a better machinery has found its way into 

 the more intricate task of threshing out the grain, 

 and from that it has still more recently crept, back- 

 wards, from the last operation of threshing the grain, 

 to that of reaping it. For it is curious to notice, in 

 passing, that it has begun at the latter end of the 

 farmer's labour, a significant token perhaps of its 

 ultimate direction and success, in the earlier details 

 of field work. The Flail was the first to give way : 

 and by the ingenuity of Mcnzies, the revolving drum 

 of the Threshing-machine, beating out the grain, by 

 continuous circular motion, was substituted for the 

 alternate strokes of the flail, (just as in navigation, 

 the circular Paddle took place of the back-and-forward 

 action of the Oar,) whilst the horse-power was con- 

 centrated round a pivot, the nearest approach horse- 

 power has made to what we commonly understand 

 by the word Machinery. This point achieved, the 



