Ch. VI.] BROAD-CASTING, 73 



cure the plants from the ravages of the fly, by occasioning them to~sprout 

 at various periods. Althougli drilling seems to have been partially known 

 in England previous to the publication of TuU's book, and that hand- 

 hoeing was generally practised, yet his system^of culture claims the merit 

 of originality, and entitles him to be considered as the father of the drill 

 and horse-hoeing husbandry *, which has tended more than any other 

 improvement, since the introduction of green crops, to the advancement of 

 our agriculture. It is, however, painful to add, that the loss attendant 

 upon his experiments led him to end his days in the Fleet Prison. ^ 



BROAD-CASTING. 



In the broad-cast mode it is surprising with what extreme precision an 

 expert sower regulates the prescribed quantity of seed to the acre, and dis- 

 tributes it over the ground in measured casts, his step and hand methodically 

 keeping pace with each other ; whereas an inexperienced man sows it irregu- 

 larly over the field, and every throw that he makes may be distinctly traced 

 at harvest by the seed not being equally spread, some spots being covered 

 too thick, and others lying comparatively bare. The waste thus occasioned 

 is not only in itself injurious, but it also occasions an unequal and conse- 

 quently imperfect crop of corn, and is likewise mischievous to the vege- 

 tation of grass-seeds sown after it, which require a very equal distribution, 

 or large patches will be left uncoveredf. 



It is hardly necessary to observe that all sowers in Scotland and Ireland 

 use a sheet slung over the right shoulder, for the purpose of carrying and 

 distributing the seed ; whereas, in some parts of England they employ a 

 basket suspended round the neck, and held by the left arm thrust through 

 the handle ; which, if not the most convenient, certainly has the advantage 

 of occasioning the sower to measure the handfuls more accurately than 

 when the seed is condensed at the bottom of the sheet. He passes up and 

 down along the ridge, and walks upon the crown, unless the ground is in a 

 very rough state ; in which case he goes in the inter- furrow, so that each 

 cast is made across half the ridge, and thus covers an entire land. If, 

 however, the ridge be more than twelve, or, at the most fifteen feet iu 

 width, he should make three casts in order to ensure its being completely 

 covered. The foot and hand accompany each other, a cast of seed being 

 thrown from the right with each step. Some sowers are, however, so 

 expert, that they throw the seed right and left from both hands, the 

 basket being strapped before them ; but this is not to be recommended, for 

 there are very few men who possess equal power in both arms, and if the 

 seed be not cast in precisely the same measure, both as to distance and 

 quantity, the crop will not come up regularly. The harrows follow, giving 

 the necessary number of turns requisite to cover the seed ; and thus the 

 process of sowing is completed. 



The same method is adopted in the sowing of the grasses ; but the equal 



* " The shallow horse-hoeiug used in some places betwixt the rows where the intervals 

 are very narrow — as sixteen or eighteen inches," he calls " but an imitation of the hand- 

 hoe, or a SHCcedaneimi to it, and can neither supply the use of dung nor of fallow, and 

 may be properly called scratch-hoeiny.'' 



t " This egregious fault is peculiarly observable in mixed rye-grass and clovers, 

 which require very small pinches of seed to each throw, and, when not equally distri- 

 buted by a judicious twirl of the hand in throwing them out, a third, or even more, of the 

 land is often left unprovided with plants, and the bare intervals are apt to grow up full 

 of weeds. On ridges of eighteen feet, where rye-grass and clover are sown, three casts 

 are necessary, as the seed of the rye-grass, in particular, in very calm weather, does not 

 spread abroad sufficiently, on account of its lightness, with two casts," — Gen. Rep. of 

 Scotland, vol. i. p. 505. 



