186 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



and all this as a mere prelude for an after-amusement 

 to all the ancient tribe of harrows, scufflers, rollers, 

 and clod-crushers, to do supplementally the real 

 work of cultivation, it reminds one of " the house 

 that JACK built." One can hardly blame the iron 

 ribs of any respectable boiler for bursting at the first 

 trial, in a task so utterly at variance with every 

 known law of mechanical progress, so repugnant to 

 the economics, I had almost said the very ethics, of 

 the steam-engine. 



* I trust to be some day forgiven for so boldly 

 speaking; but I am sorry to think of one useful 

 shilling being thrown away in the attempt, unpro- 

 fitable even if successful, of harnessing steam with 

 horse harness, to do horse's work in a horse's way ; 

 the implement itself, whose wretched work (on clay 

 soil) it is set to accomplish, being a tool with sen- 

 tence of death written upon it, be it as ancient as it 

 may, for its tyranny to the subsoil, which bears the 

 whole burthen and injury of its laborious path. 



' I say the Plough is essentially imperfect. What 

 it does is little towards the work of cultivation ; but 

 that little is tainted by a radical imperfection 

 damage to the subsoil, which is pressed and hardened 

 by the share, in an exact ratio with the weight of 



