DIFFERENT METHODS OF SOWING. 39 



holds the seed loosely, and makes high casts, generally 

 wastes the grain, and makes bad work in the wind. 

 Some sowers use both hands at once, and for this 

 purpose have the seed-lip strapped round the waist, 

 and made in a curved form to suit the shape of the 

 body and extend from the right to the left side : but 

 there are few men who can sow well double-handed, as it 

 rarely happens that the left hand acts with equal power 

 to the right 



SEED-BASKET. 



In Ireland and Scotland sowers use a piece of linen 

 sheeting cut into a peculiar form, and slung across the 

 right shoulder. This is called the sowing-sheet, and is 

 often literally nothing more than a common square 

 sheet knotted together at three corners ; but when pro- 

 perly shaped and sewed it is more convenient for use. 

 Although extensively used, the sowing-sheet is inferior 

 to the seed-lip, because it does not allow the sower to 

 measure the handfuls so accurately. 



The difference between the work of an experienced 

 and of an inexperienced sower is plainly revealed when 

 the young wheat begins to spring up. In the one 

 case the regular appearance of the crop satisfies the eye, 

 and defies it to trace the particular casts ; in the other, 

 every cast made by the sower can be distinctly traced, 

 the seed not being equally spread, but in some places 

 sown too thickly, while in others it is comparatively 



