oh. Ti SOWING AND PLANTING 173 



The furrow is then prepared either with a light don key - 

 plough or with a hoe, or else with a trowel-hoe (Fig. 

 28), or with the share-hoe (Fig. 57), according to the 

 depth to which the soil is to be worked up. In heavy 

 or stony soils the pick-axe or tramp-pick (Fig. 55) will 

 have to be used. In hilly ground these furrows should 

 be made horizontally, otherwise they will be liable to 

 be turned into watercourses. The furrow being made, 

 the seed is dropped in either by hand or with the help of 

 a sowing-horn, which can be easily prepared with a 

 bottle by attaching to its mouth a conical piece of 



Fig. 57. Fig. 58. 



leather with an aperture at the pointed end of the 

 requisite size to let the seed out just sufficiently fast 

 to give out a continuous supply. Special seed -horns 

 are also sold, which have at the extremity a screw by 

 which the size of the aperture can be regulated. The 

 seed can also be dibbled in from distance to distance, 

 the holes being made with the finger or with a planting 

 stake (Fig. 42), or with a dibbling hammer, which can 

 be regulated so as not to penetrate into the earth 

 deeper than is required to give the proper depth to the 

 seeds (Fig. 58). After the sowing has been done in a 

 furrow, earth is raked in over it. 



As has already been stated, seed may be sown in 

 trenches when the rainfall is scanty in order to give 



