64 PACKING THE SOIL ABOUT PLANTED SEEDS 



has come up better than elsewhere, because the man's 

 weight pressed the soil closely about the seed. Farmers 

 and gardeners have often noticed this fact, and so they 

 have devised various means for packing the soil over 

 planted seeds. 



Testimony of a Gardener. Gardeners often walk with 

 very short steps over a row of planted seeds, placing the 

 heel of one foot against the toe of the other, so as to step 

 on every part of the row. A very successful gardener 

 once wrote, "As an experiment, I sowed twelve rows of 

 ..... ...-.-> . . sweet corn and 



twelve rows of 

 beets, treading in, 

 after sowing, every 

 alternate row of 

 each. In both cases, 

 those trodden in 



~ + '..'* " 



FIG. 30. Effect of pressing the earth closely Came Up Ul four 



days, while those 



unfirmed remained twelve days before starting, and 

 would not then have germinated had not rain fallen." 



Rollers. When farmers plant corn with the hand hoe, 

 they commonly strike the soil with the flat side of the hoe, 

 or often they step on each "hill" after covering it, to 

 press the soil about the seed. When grain is sown in dry 

 weather, a heavy roller is commonly driven over the land 

 to pack the soil about the seed. The heavy split wheels of 

 the ordinary cornplanter serve as rollers. Grain sowing 

 machines, and cornplanters, often have little iron rollers 

 attached to them to press the soil over the seed. Gardeners 

 often use hand rollers for this purpose. 



