¢ 99 ) 
leaves the soil for subsequent culture. In this prac- 
tice, however, a less quantity of barley must be 
sown than usual, because without ventilation, the 
clover plants will perish. To this condition two 
others must be added, because indispensable to a 
good crop: Ist, that your seed be good; and 2d, 
that it be regularly and equally sown. The tests 
of good seed are, its comparative size and weight, 
(the largest and heaviest being always the best) its 
plumpness, its yeilow or purple color, its glossy 
skin, and lastly its cleanness, or separation from oth- 
er seeds and from dirt. 7 
-'The human hand was, no doubt, the first machine 
employed for sowing seeds. The difficulty, how- 
ever, of scattering them equally over every part of 
the field, soon attracted notice and engaged mechan- 
ics in devising something which should better an- 
swer that purpose. China was the first to produce 
any thing at all commensurate with this object; and 
it was not till the seventeenth century that this, or 
some similar inventi.n, was introduced into Europe 
by Lucateo, (a2 Spaniard,) who, meeting no encour- 
agement at home, transmitted his real or pretended 
discovery to London, Here, (as has been conjec- 
iured,) it served as a model for the sowing machines 
’ of M. Tull, and from 1750 to 1770, the mania on 
this subject was at its height: but from that period 
to the present, it has been gradually subsiding, and 
the hand is now completely and generally restored 
to its original functions. 
The quantity of seed to be given to the acre 
should, in a great degree, depend on the soil; if 
