192 CHRONICLES OP A CLAY FARM. 



the substance they act upon. A circular " cultivator " 

 steam-driven will do the same. It does so more 

 effectually according to the velocity of revolution 

 and the state of the soil. This last incident is as it 

 should be ; for it is not desirable that a clay soil 

 should be dealt with when not in a proper state for 

 tillage ; and one great advantage of such an instru- 

 ment as I point to would be that it would so 

 immensely enlarge the choice of period, by its 

 compendious accomplishment of the whole work of 

 culture. 



* My object, however, is not so much to advocate 

 the particular mode of applying Steam-power which 

 I myself suggest, as to explain the grounds on which 

 I feel more and more strongly assured that the at- 

 tempt to employ it through the medium of the plough 

 must be eventually renounced.' 



* There's one thing,' said Mr. Greening, who had 

 been listening throughout with unusual attention and 

 perseverance, and nodding knowingly at the end of 

 each sentence, as if the idea was steadily gaining 

 ground upon his mind, ' There's one thing that 

 you haven't mentioned, and on your own side 

 of the matter, too. The finer the soil's worked 

 down, the greater the effect of the manure : of that 



