240 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



1. The seed is delivered with regularity. 



2. It is deposited at a proper depth. 



3. The weeds, during the growth of the plants, 

 are destroyed with great facility. 



4. The plants cultivated receive the undivided 

 benefit of the soil and manure, and have not to main- 

 tain a constant struggle with weeds. 



5. The land, by the process of hoeing, is under- 

 going preparation for another crop. 



0. The necessity of summer fallowing is avoided. 



7. By admission of the sun and air between the 

 rows, a stronger and healthier plant is produced, 

 and, of course, a heavier crop. 



8. By stirring the soil, it is rendered more suscep- 

 tible of benefit from the atmosphere, imbibing more 

 oxygen, and being both warmed and enriched by the 

 sun. 



9. The roots shoot freely in a pulverized soil. 



10. By drilling, the farmer is enabled to have heav- 

 ier crops of beans and wheat on light land. 



11. Clover and grass seeds answer incomparably 

 better with the pulverization^ produced by hoeing, 

 independent of clearness from weeds. 



12. The drills give facility for depositing smaller 

 portions of manure with greater effect. 



These advantages are all self-evident to a good 

 farmer; and it might have been added, as a thir- 

 teenth advantage, that drilling economizes seed, 

 though Mr. Binns rejects it on the ground that if 

 the plants are thin, they throw out side-shoots, 

 which produce imperfect grain, and ripen unequally. 

 Mr. B. affirms that fifty-six bushels of wheat have 

 been raised on the light soils of Norfolk by drill hus- 

 bandry. 



The drills employed in sowing wheat, &c., are 

 drawn by a horse, and sow six or eight rows at a 

 time at the required distance, dropping and covering 

 the seed. The machine for clearing between the 

 rows is also drawn by one horse, and consists of a 



