OF THE SOWING OF SEED. 



It is universally admitted, that it is the most advantageoui 

 system, to drill turnips and potatoes, and that drilling, in 

 regard to these articles, is greatly preferable to the broad- 

 cast mode, for the following reasons: 1. As it carries off 

 the extra moisture in wet soils; . As it exposes more 

 surface to the atmospheric influence, by which the soil is 

 meliorated ; and, 3. As it gives an additional opportunity 

 for the vegetation and the destruction of weeds.* 



It would appear likewise, from the experiments of Mr 

 Butttrworth and others, that drilling carrots is an advan- 

 tageous system, as the plant can thus be cultivated on 

 soils, where otherwise it would hardly be practicable, the 

 drills furnishing an artificial depth of soil in which they 

 can be raised. 



The most intelligent Scotch farmers approve of the sys- 

 tem of drilling beans, as the pods of beans are placed on 

 the stem from the root upward, and of course derive es- 

 sential benefit, when filling, from the admission of air by 

 the open space left between the drills. This is universally 

 admitted on light or loamy lands ; but where the soil is 

 of a strong and slubborn nature, the broad-cast system is 

 in a few cases preferred, more especially in the Carse of 

 Gowrie, it being found difficult, it is said, in a rainy sea- 

 son, to perform the necessary drilling operations in clay, 

 which renders the crop uncertain and precarious, and not 

 a cleaning one.-f- As there is no comparison between the 



Remarks by Captain John Henderson of Aimster, in Caithness. 

 Some prefer turnips broad-cast, imagining that they are better protected 

 from the frost, by the earth, than when raised in ridges ; in which case 

 the earth is apt to fall from them. 



t Observations by Mr Peter Jack of Moncur. These reasons, how- 

 ever, are objected to. Mr John Shirreff remarks, that even in the wet- 



