Chap. XL CULTURE OF ANNUAL PLANTS. 59 



CHAP. XL 



General defcription of the drill and borfe-hoeing Hnjbandry, for the 

 culture of annual Plants. 



AS we fhall hereafter give a particular defcription of the chief 

 inftruments ufed in this new huAandry, it may fuffice to fay 

 at prefent, for the better underflanding of what follows, that the 

 drill, which is drawn by one or two horfes, forms furrows of what 

 depth, and at what diftance is delired, drops into the furrow the 

 exadl quantity of feed thought proper, and immediately covers it. 



We fhall now examine the three following queftions, each of 

 them in a feparate article, viz. i . At what depth the feed ought to 

 be fown : 2. The quantity of feed proper to be fown: and, 3. The 

 diftance at which the rows fliould be placed. 



ARTICLE L 



At what Depth the Seed ought to be fown. 



THE feeds of all plants fliould not be fown at the fame depth. 

 To fatisfy myfelf of this, fays M. Duhamel, I dug a trench 

 twelve feet long, lloping it gradually from the furface at one end, to 

 tlie depth of two feet at the other. I fowed different feeds in this 

 trench ; and having put the earth in its place, I obferved, i . That 

 hardly any feeds rife when buried deeper than nine inches : 2. That 

 fome feeds rife extremely well at the depth of fix inches : 3. That 

 other feeds do not rife at all when they are above one or two inches 

 deep. Experience (hews, that the fame feeds may be buried deeper 

 in a light, than in a heavier foil ; and that feeds which lie too deep 

 in the earth to fpring up in a dry year, may rife in a warm moiil 

 year. Experience likewife teaches, that feeds which are buried 

 too deep in the earth, will remain there ten or twenty years found 

 and unaltered ; fo that if by moving that earth they chance to be 

 brought to the furface, they grow extremely well, and produce their 

 proper plant. 



It appears from, hence, that each kind of grain ihould be fown 

 at its proper depth, which is beft known by experience. iVIr. Tull 

 therefore propofes having twelve gauges or llicks, to be ufed as fol- 

 lows. Bore a hole in one at the diftance of half an inch from the 

 end, in the fecond at an inch, and fo on, increafing half an inch to 



I 2 each 



