THE WHEAT CROP. 29 



the amount of labour, both manual and horse, with an 

 allowance for the use, or wear and tear, of the machine, 

 be summed up, and divided by the area of the land sown, 

 the cost per acre for drilling is readily ascertained. 



The third method of sowing, that of dibbling the seed 

 in, is very rarely met with in practice to any extent in 

 reference to wheat sowing, though it still prevails to a 

 considerable extent with beans, mangold - wurzel, and 

 similar crops. The object gained by this process is a 

 great economy, even in comparison with the Drill, in 

 the quantity of seed necessary, an equal distribution of 

 the seed over the whole surface, and security against 

 any of it remaining on the surface uncovered. The 

 proportion of seed for dibbling is usually from one- 

 third to one-half the quantity that would be used for 

 drilling under the same circumstances that is to say, 

 when from 1J to 2 bushels are drilled, from 2 to 4 

 pecks would be sufficient for dibbling. 1 The process 

 of dibbling is a very tedious and expensive one, not- 

 withstanding the certain amount of success which has 

 attended several attempts to substitute mechanical for 

 manual labour. These may be seen well described in the 

 Cyclopedia of Agriculture, under the head of " Sowing 

 Machines." In all the operation is the same, though 

 effected by different means : a hole or depression in the 

 soil is made to a given regulated depth, at the bottom of 

 which a certain proportion of seed (usually about three 

 grains) is to be deposited these holes being made at cer- 

 tain regular distances from each other, and in as perfectly 



1 In the Agricultural Gazette for 1859, p. 681, a correspondent thus writes, 

 in reference to his produce from dibbled seed : " Of wheat I never planted 

 more than 2 pecks of seed per acre; of barley 2 pecks, and oats 3; but I shall 

 reduce the quantity of oats. Of produce, I had on one field of wheat, four 

 years in succession, averaging 44 bushels per acre, from 2 pecks of seed, or 

 176 bushels, in four years, from 2 bushels of seed; of barley, from 2 pecks of 

 seed, I had 7| quarters, which the master said was the finest he ever saw, and 

 it fetched 46s. per quarter," &c. 



