218 THE BEAItf CEOP. 



the advantages of the schools which are now happily 

 placed within the reach of well-nigh the whole of our rural 

 population. We have already described the method of 

 dibbling in treating of wheat sowing; for beans the 

 hand-dibbles are more suitable, and the one figured, p. 30, 

 Newberry's, is perhaps the simplest and cheapest in con- 

 struction, and as efficient as any other form of implement 

 in use. In the eastern counties, Bentall's seed-depositor is 

 a simple and inexpensive form of hand-machine another 

 arrangement known as Crawford's hand -dibble is also 

 highly spoken of by those who have used it. 1 Either of 

 these may be worked singly, or two or three together set in 

 a frame and moved by a common handle, so as to employ 

 the full power of the labourer using them. Dibbling is 

 usually piece-work, from 5s. to 6s. per acre being the 

 average price paid. 



In some places we find the work paid for at so much 

 per bushel of seed deposited. This is clearly a very 

 faulty and short-sighted mode of payment, as it places 

 the interest of the labourer in direct antagonism to that 

 of his employer. The object of the latter is to have 

 a given quantity of his seed carefully and equally dis- 

 tributed over his field ; whereas the object of the former 

 is to get through as much seed as possible in the shortest 

 time, and thus receive a larger payment for his work. 

 The result too frequently observed, when the plants 

 come up, is that fewer holes have been made and more 

 seed deposited in them; while, in many cases, portions 

 of the intended seed have not been sown at all, but 

 either thrown aside or carried away, if the labourer be a 

 dishonest fellow. This mode of payment exists in Buck- 

 inghamshire and the neighbouring counties, where Is. 6d. 

 per bushel is the average price paid. In no department 



1 These are both fully described, and working drawings and details given, in 

 the article "Sowing Machines," in the Cyclop, of Agric. 



