Ch. VI.] DRILLING. " 17 



for the destruction of seed-weeds ; for, if the soil be in proper order, 

 they may, in most years, be kept down by broad-cast crops covering 

 the wliole of the ground ; and tliat, if the crops be not weeded at all, 

 the drilling will have no other effect than to render the ground foul 

 by filling the intervals with trumpery. 



That drilling is not applicable to tough old sward, or to leys of 

 more than three years' standing, unless they have been brought into 

 an unusually fine state of tillage ; neither is it appropriate to stony 

 soils ; nor is it well calculated for strong clays ; for the process re- 

 quires the land to be reduced to a state of fineness, which is attended 

 with extraordinary labour and expense, and which is impracticable 

 in an unfavourable season ; or, if attempted, and perhaps nearly com- 

 pleted, and the soil ready for the seed, the fall of a few hours of 

 heavy rain may render it so lumpish as to prevent the operation. 



From this it will be perceived that strong objections are entertained to 

 the drilling of corn upon all soils, and, upon strong land, they are certainly 

 entitled to considerable weight. It must, however, be confessed that the 

 advantages arising from the regular distribution of the seed by the drill- 

 machine are very great, when the soil and weather admit of the operation 

 being well effected ; but to secure that, the land must be, in every respect, 

 in a fit state, or the coulters of the drill will clog with dirt, and the seed 

 be ill covered. To attempt it, therefore, under other circumstances, would 

 be imprudent, for it is not often that it can be conveniently delayed. The 

 autumn sowing of wheat is, for instance, a matter not of choice but of 

 necessity ; and when large tracts are to be sown at the precarious season 

 at the close of autumn, it frequently happens that the land cannot be got 

 into proper order to admit of the slow process of the drill. The system of 

 broad-casting still, therefore, very generally prevails ; and although it in 

 all cases occasions a certain waste of seed, and is, in many instances, indif- 

 ferently executed, yet, generally speaking, the crops do not appear to 

 suffer. 



Drilling wheat may, however, be judiciously resorted to when grass- 

 seeds are to be afterwards sown amongst it ; for, although there may be 

 little danger of weeds, yet the opportunity afforded by the drill for hoeing 

 in the spring is ever desirable, as the seeds do not always succeed well on 

 winter-sown wheat, when merely harrowed in ; and there can be no doubt 

 that they will thrive better after the soil has been loosened and pulverized 

 by the hoe. It may also be adopted with advantage — if the soil be not 

 too strong a clay, nor too wet — wherever the land is infested with weeds ; 

 for, although the operation of hoeing will not destroy root-weeds, yet it will 

 tend to keep them down, and lessen the injury which the crop might other- 

 wise sustain from them. Even when the land is so stiff as to require a 

 summer fallow, it may likewise be very properly used on the fallow, when 

 dung is applied ; for, if the dung be not well rotted, it is never quite free 

 from the seeds of weeds, the plants of which may be got rid of by hoeing in 

 the spring. 



Yet it must be observed that the operation of hoeing, although incontro- 

 vertibly advantageous in the destruction of weeds, is yet thought to be pre- 

 judicial to the wheat, and indeed to corn crops generally ; for, as it cuts 

 the roots, it occasions the plants to stool or tiller very much by means of 

 suckers ; and when this happens, it has been generally found that the 

 grain has proved coarse. Neither is it considered advisable to earth them 

 up, if the land be rich ; though, if poor, it may prevent them from 



