816 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



done by the winnowing machine. When thoroughly washed and skimmed, let it drain a little, then 

 empty it on a clean floor or in the cart that is to take it to the field, and sift quick-lime upon it, turning 

 it over and mixing it with a shovel till it be sufficiently dry for sowing." (Supp. E. Brit. art. Agr.) 



5029. The quantily of seed necessarily depends both on the time of sowing and the 

 state of the land ; land sown early requiring less than the same land when sown in 

 winter or spring; and poor land being at all times allowed more seed than rich. 

 The quantity accordingly varies from two bushels, or less, to three, and sometimes even 

 to four, bushels per English statute acre. Winter wheat, when sown in spring, ought 

 always to have a liberal allowance, as the plants have not time to tiller much without 

 unduly retarding their maturation. {Supp. &c.) Upon well prepared lands, if the seed 

 is distributed equally, it can scarcely be sown too thin ; perhaps two bushels per acre 

 are sufficient ; for the heaviest crops at autumn are rarely those which show the most 

 vigorous appearance through the winter months. Bean stubbles require more seed than 

 summer fallows ; because the roughness of their surface prevents such an equal dis- 

 tribution ; and clover layers ought to be still thicker sown than bean stubbles. Thin 

 sowing in spring ought not to be practised, otherwise the crop will be late, and imper- 

 fectly ripened. {Brown.) 



5030. Tlie modes of sowing ivheat are either broad-cast, drilling, ribbing, or dibbling. 

 The first mode is by far the most general, more especially in the north of England and 

 Scotland, and the seed is for the most part covered by the harrows. No more harrowing, 

 Brown observes, should be given to fields that have been fallowed than what is necessary 

 to cover the seed, and level the surface sufficiently. Ground which is to lie in a broken- 

 down state through the winter, suffers severely when an excessive harrowing is given, 

 especially if it is incumbent on a close bottom ; though as to the quantity necessary none 

 can give an opinion except those who are present. 



5031. Ploughing in. Many farmers allege that wheat which is harrowed in is apt to be thrown out in 

 spring; or if not thrown out at that season, that it does not tiller well, and that the stalks are apt to 

 dwindle away and fall down in the flowering season. It is certain that this is the case in many parts of 

 England ; and the cause assigned by the northern farmers is the defective manner in which the land is 

 ploughed, by which there is not sufficient covering for the seed. To guard against these evils it is a very 

 general practice in most of the southern counties, when wheat is sown broad-cast, to plough it in with a 

 shallow furrow. This is done even after beans and on clover leys, and is a favourite practice on very 

 opposite soils, as in Norfolk and Middlesex. 



5032. Drilling, however, is extensively practised in some districts, and is becoming more general on lands 

 infested with the seeds of annual weeds, especially when sown in spring. A machine which sows at three 

 different intervals, according to the judgment of the farmer, of twelve, ten and a half, or nine inches, is 

 much approved of in the northern districts. It deposits six, seven, or eight rows at once, according to its 

 adjustment to one or other of these intervals, and the work is done with ease and accuracy when the ridges 

 are previously laid out of such a breadth (twelve feet and a half) as to be sown by one bout ; the machine 

 going along one side of such a ridge, and returning on the other, and its direction being guided by one of its 

 wheels, which thus always runs in the open furrow between the ridges. If the ten and a half inch interval 

 be adopted, and it is the most common one in that country, the machine sows seven rows at once, or fourteen 

 rows on a ridge of twelve feet and a half. But the space between the rows varies in some parts still more 

 than this machine admits of ; it ought not, however, to be so narrow as to prevent hand-hoeing, even after 

 the crop has made considerable progress in growth j and it cannot advantageously be so wide as to admit 

 the use of any elective horse-hoe. 



5033. Ribbing is a mode of sowing comtnon in some places, by which a drill machine is dispensed with, 

 though the same purpose is nearly answered. This we have already adverted to in the section on tillage. 

 The seed is scattered with the hand in the usual broad-cast manner, but as it necessarily falls for the most 

 part in the furrows between the ribs, the crop rises in straight parallel rows, as if it had been sown by a 

 drill machine ; after sowing, the ribs are levelled by harrowing across them. This plan has nearly all the 

 advantages of drilling in, as far as it regards exposure to the rays of the sun, and the circulation of air 

 among the plants ; but as some plants must always rise between the rows, it is not quite so proper when 

 hoeing is required. {Sup. E. Brit.) 



.5034. The dibbling of wheat is practised in some parts of Norfolk. The furrow is laid over flat, and a row 

 of holes is made along the middle of each by a man who uses a dibber in each hand. A middling work- 

 man will make four holes in a second. One dibbler is sufficient for three droppers; whence one man and 

 three children are called a set. The dibbler carries on three flags or turzied furrows ; going on some yards 

 upon one of the outside furrows, and returning upon the other, after which he takes the middle one ; and 

 thus keeps his three droppers constantly employed ; and at the same time is in no danger of filling up the 

 holes with his feet. The droppers put two or three grains of wheat into each hole; but much time and 

 patience is necessary to teach them to perform the business properly and quickly. An expert dibbler will 

 hole half an acre in a day ; though one third of an acre is usually reckoned a good day's work. The seed 

 is covered by means of a bush harrow; and from one bushel to six pecks is the usual quantity for an 

 acre. Notwithstanding the advantages of saving seed, as well as some others which are generally reckoned 

 undeniable, it is asserted by some very judicious farmers, that dibbling of wheat on the whole is not really 

 a profitable practice. It is particularly said to be productive of weeds, unless dibbled very thick : winch, 

 indeed, may probably be the case, as the weeds are thus allowed a greater space to vegetate in. Marshall 

 is of opinion, that the dibbling of wheat appears to be peculiarly adapted to deep rich soils, on which three 

 or four pecks dibbled early may spread sufficiently for a full crop; whereas light, weak, shallow soils, 

 which have lain two or three years, and have become grassy, require an additional quantity of seed, and 

 consequently an addition of labour, otherwise the plants are not able to reach each other, and the grasses 

 of course find their way up between them, by which means the crop is injured, and the soil rendered 

 foul. It is alleged, that if a single grain of good size and sound could be dropped in each hole and no more, 

 there might be an advantage in dibbling, where it could be accomplished at a moderate rate ; but where 

 two or three grains are put in each hole, and often six or eight, the source of profit is diminished or 

 destroyed by twofold means ; first, by using too much seed ; and secondly, because three or fcur grains 

 springing out of one hole will not make such a strong plant or stool as one sound grain. In answer to these 

 remarks, we are informed, that an inquisitive farmer himself dibbled a great many holes, and dropped 

 carefully one, two, three, &c. to ten grains of wheat in each hole. He carefully gathered the wheat, and 

 put the produce of all the one grain holes, and of the two grain holes, and of the three, and so on to the 

 ten, apart : on cleaning the ten portions, those holes which had three; four, arid five grains were decidedly 

 the heaviest produce; and he reasonably concluded that three, four, and five grains were the properest 

 number to drop into each hole. To attempt dibbling either wheat or beans by hand on a large scale, we 



