COMPLETE WITH TILTH. ' 251 



ml justing screw sc, across the opening at the bottom of the hopper 

 and thereby regulates the feed of the seeds from the latter. As 

 the implement is pushed along, the wheel w rotates, setting in 

 motion the cylinder c, the successive grooves of which catch and 

 take on the seeds that have passed down from the hopper and, with 

 the revolution of the cylinder, drop them through the tube t over 

 the point of the small share sh, and thence into the furrow mane 

 by the share. The advantage which this machine possesses over 

 the simple sowing tube is that the quantity of seed sown can be 

 exactly regulated without any trouble or fatigue by the merest tyro 

 and the share can be adjusted so as to make a furrow of the depth 

 require!. But the sowing with it of large or winged seeds, like 

 those of sal, Terminalla tomentosa, fyc., is entirely precluded. 



Sowing broadcast requires a certain amount of skill and much 

 more careful management than drill sowing, and in any case it 

 does not distribute the seeds so uniformly. Moreover it can sel- 

 dom be performed except in calm weather, particularly when the 

 seeds are small or light or flat or winged. A light drizzling rain 

 makes the work easier. 



Whether we sow broadcast or in drills, great care must be given 

 to secure an equal distribution of the seeds. To this end the area 

 to be sown should be divided, by flags ranged in parallel lines, into 

 a number of small temporary compartments of equal extent, and 

 the seeds into the same number of equal lots. Although the 

 sowing in each compartment taken singly may not be quite uni- 

 form, nevertheless the distribution of the seeds over the whole area 

 will be sufficiently equal for all practical purposes. 



If there are several species of seeds to be sown together, they 

 may be thoroughly mixed beforehand in the proper proportions ; 

 but if sowing drills are used, it is much better to sow each kind 

 separately in alternate lines or according to any other arrangement 

 suiting the proportion of each to be sown, as by no other means 

 is it possible afterwards to ascertain exactly and with ease the 

 relative success of the several kinds sown, and hence whether the 

 required proportion of each species exists on the ground. 



Whatever the mode of sowing, the seeds must be sown thickly : 

 however good the quality of the seeds may be, a large pei cent-age 

 will always fail to germinate, and, owing to the wholesale, and 

 therefore necessarily rough and ready, manner in which the ground 

 has been prepared, a very much larger proportion of the seedlings 

 must die. At least 10 seeds must be sown per square yard. 



