MODES OF SOWING. 217 



secure the desired distance between the rows, every alter- 

 nate furrow is missed; this, with a 9 -inch furrow, would 

 give an interval of 18 inches; by missing two furrows, 

 and only sowing in the third, the interval would be in- 

 creased to three times the width of the furrow-slice, what- 

 ever that might be. To keep the seed-barrow constantly 

 going, all the furrows (two or three, as the case may be) 

 must be drawn at the same time, the necessary number of 

 ploughs following each other, and the sower closing up the 

 rear, and depositing the seed immediately behind the last 

 plough : the harrows then follow and complete the work. 

 The practice of dibbling is far more common with beans 

 than with any other crop, owing probably to the charac- 

 ter of the soils and the early period of the year at which 

 they are planted rendering the ordinary tillage processes 

 of machine sowing more difficult and dilatory, and also to 

 the greater facility of manipulation offered by the larger 

 size of the seeds to be deposited. In some places the mode 

 of dibbling the seed is performed in a very primitive man- 

 ner the thumb and the finger of the operator being all 

 the tools required ; sometimes a small stick or dibble is 

 used, and the seed dropped in the hole. On the bean 

 soils of the eastern counties, the work is frequently seen 

 being done by the joint labour of men and children : the 

 man to make the holes, which he does with two long 

 dibble-rods (sometimes fixed together at the desired 

 width), walking backwards, and followed by two children, 

 who deposit the seed in the holes. Cold fingers and care- 

 less hands, however, cause negligent work, and have led 

 to the introduction of various mechanical substitutes, 

 which do the work far better, in every respect, than 

 it can be done by hands, and enable the labourer to make 

 better use of his physical as well as mental powers than 

 he formerly did; while the children, no longer needed in 

 the field for work so unfitted for them, are left to enjoy 



