sowise. 



281 



Tull hag suggested an excellent method : Take a dozen of 

 sticks for guages ; mark the first at half an inch from the end: 

 the next at an inch ; and so on, increasing half an inch to each. 

 Then in the sort of ground you intend to sow, make a row of 

 twenty holes, with the half inch guagc ; put in twenty good 

 seeds and cover them, and stick up the guage at the end of 

 the row. Then do the like with the rest of the sticks. Ob- 

 serve how the seeds prosper in the different rows, and you 

 will discover at what depth that kmd of seed should be buried. 

 This experiment, however useful, can be of little or no use in 

 the old field husbandry ; for in the broad cast way of sowing, 

 the seeds will be differently covered. But sbwing fields with 

 the driU, in equi-distant rows, when horse-hoeing is not in- 

 tended, cannot be too much commended, if it were only on ac- 

 count of the seed that may be saved by it. Much seed is wast- 

 ed in the common way of sowing. For some of the seed will 

 be so deeply covered that they will not vegetate ; some will be 

 left on the surface, which is a prey for birds, and perhaps 

 leads them to- scratch up some of the rest: some will lie so 

 near the surface as to be destroyed by variation of weather, 

 being alternately wetted or scorched. And of those seeds 

 that grow, some rise earlier and some later, so that the crop 

 does not ripen equally. The seeds will fell from the hands of 

 the sower too thick in some spots and too thin in others, by 

 meuns of the unevenness of the surface ; and the harrowing 

 will perhaps increase the inequality, so that many will be so 

 crowded as to be unfruitful, while the rest have more room 

 than is necessary.. 



But when the seeds are put in with the drill, they will rise 

 nearly together ; not so much so as one seed will be wast- 

 ed or lostr supposing them sown at the right distance; each 

 one may have so much room, as is most conducive to its 

 growth ; no starved head will appear, and the whole will ripen 

 together. Haifa bushel of wheat, or even a less quantity, in 

 this way will seed an acre sufficiently ; which would be a greai» 

 advantage at a time of scarcity of seed.. 



