III.] THE AMERICAN CARDFNER. 83 



persed promiscuously over the ground, to perform 

 this operation is next to impossible. 



161. The great obstacle to the following of a 

 method so obviously advantageous, is, the trouble. 

 To draw lines for peas and beans is not deemed 

 troublesome ; but, to do this for radishes, onions, 

 carrots, lettuces, beds of cabbages, and other small 

 seeds, is regarded as tedious. When we consider 

 the saving- of trouble afterwards, this trouble is 

 really nothing, even if the drills were drawn one 

 at a time by a line or rule ; but, this need not be 

 the case ; for, a very cheap and simple tool does 

 the business with as much quickness as sowing at 

 random. 



162. Suppose there be a bed of onions to be 

 sown. I make my drills in this way. I have what 

 I call a Driller, which is a rake six feet long in the 

 head. This head is made of White Oak, 2 inches 

 by 2^ ; and has teeth in it at eight inches asunder, 

 each tooth being about six inches long, and an inch 

 in diameter at the head, and is pointed a little al 

 the end that meets the ground. This gives nine 

 teeth, there being four inches over at each end of 

 the head. In this head, there is a handle fixed of 

 about six feet long. When my ground is prepared, 

 raked nice and smooth, and cleaned from stones 

 and clods, I begin at the left hand end of the bed, 

 and draw across it nine rows at once. I then pro- 

 ceed, taking care to keep the left hand tooth of the 

 Driller in the right hand drill that has just been 

 made ; so that now I make but eight new drills, 

 because (for a guide) the left hand tooth goes this 

 time in the drill, which was before made by the 

 right hand tooth. Thus, at every draw, I make 

 eight drills. And, in this way, a pretty long bed 

 is formed into nice, straight drills in a very few mi 



