SOME GENERAL PRINCIPLES 1 9 



is sown in strips or bands, as it were, each strip being 

 finished in one round. Some sowers, more expert 

 at their work, sow with both hands and complete the 

 strip each time they walk over the field. When the 

 ground is plowed in lands of moderate width the 

 furrows will serve to enable the sower to sow in 

 straight lines. Where the sowing is done on land 

 sown to grain by the drill, the drill marks may be 

 made to effect the same result. When sown on light 

 snows, the foot-marks will serve as guides. In the 

 absence of marks it will be necessary to use stakes 

 to guide the sower. Four stakes are used, two of 

 which are set at each end of the field, and these are 

 moved as each cast is made. At each round made 

 over the field, from 12 feet to 15 feet may be sown by 

 the sower who sows only with one hand. The sower 

 with two hands will accomplish twice as much. 



A comparatively still time should be chosen for 

 sowing the seed by hand, more especially when grass 

 seeds, which are usually lighter, are sown at the 

 same time. In hand sowing much care is necessary 

 in scattering the seed, so that each cast of the seed 

 will spread evenly as it falls, leaving no bare spaces 

 between the cast from the hand or between the strips 

 sown at one time. Hand sowing, especially in the 

 Western States, is in a sense a lost art, owing to 

 the extent to which machine sowing is practised; 

 nevertheless, it is an accomplishment which every 

 farmer should possess, since it will oftentimes be 

 found very convenient when sowing small quantities 

 of seed, and in sowing seeds in mixtures which can- 

 not be so well sown by machines. 



