MACHINERY OF THE CLAYS. 229 



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 

 our 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, backwards, 

 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 Menzies, 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 concentrated round a pivot, the nearest approach 

 horse-power has made to what we commonly under- 

 stand by the word Machinery. This point achieved, 

 the introduction of the Steam-engine to that branch 

 of farm operations was at once made easy. The right 



