MODE OF [Chap. 



be completed. Not only have we certainty here, 

 as to number and situation of the plants ; but 

 we have also a great saving of time, for, the 

 numerous hesitations that will stop a careful 

 planter ; his numerous doubts, and the many 

 times that he will stop to take up a grain that 

 he has already put down, in order to place it 

 nearer to, or further off from, the last, that he 

 has placed, take up a great deal of time ; and I 

 have no doubt in my own mind, that this certainty 

 may be obtained by these means, at one half of 

 the expense that we purchase the uncertainty 

 arising from the leaving of the matter to the eye. 

 The stick is shifted forward with the greatest 

 facility in the world ; the back is already bent; 

 the hinder end of the stick is brought up to 

 where the last grain is deposited, and then the 

 planter goes on again. Nothing can be more 

 true than this; nothing more easy; nothing 

 requiring less adroitness or less thought. Never- 

 theless I by no means recommend the employing 

 of girls or boys in this part of the business, nor 

 even men that do not like to bend their backs, 

 for such would be too apt to sloven the matter 

 over after all. 



69. After the planter comes a man with a 

 little hoe to cover the seeds over with the earth ; 

 and this is a nice part of the business, especially 

 if the ground be cloddy ; for none but fine earth 



