QUANTITY OF SEED TIME OF SOWING. 273 



tion of seed must always be allowed as compared with 

 drilling. By either method, however, it is important 

 that care should be taken to deposit the seed at an uni- 

 form depth, which should be as shallow as possible; so 

 that it be fairly covered is all that is required. If it be 

 deposited too deep it will remain a long time in the soil 

 without germinating at all; if it be placed at irregular 

 depths its germination and growth will be irregular, and 

 its produce, both as regards seeds and fibre, will be irre- 

 gular, and of less market value. In drilling, the rows 

 should be from 8 to 12 inches apart, and the lightest seed 

 harrows used to cover in the seed ; in broadcasting, it is 

 generally brushed in with the bush-harrow, in the same 

 manner as grass and other small seeds. In both cases the 

 land should have a turn with the light roller, which 

 finishes the operation. 



When sown for the fibre alone, or for fibre and seed 

 combined, it is recommended to be sown somewhat 

 earlier than where the seed only is the object of culti- 

 vation. Vegetation is so rapid in its processes in the 

 summer, and the crop grows so quickly, that the plants 

 sown late have not time sufficient to mature and con- 

 solidate their tissues, which is so necessary for the pro- 

 duction of good fibre, and which the slower vegetation of 

 the spring months generally secures to those sown at an 

 earlier period. For fibre purposes, then, the last week in 

 March is probably the best time; when both fibre and 

 seed are desired, the sowing may be delayed for a week 

 or two later; and when the crop is intended for its seed 

 produce alone, any time before the end of April will be 

 equally suitable. At the same time it should not be for- 

 gotten, that whether the crop be grown for fibre or for 

 seed, the sooner it is harvested and the field cleared the 

 better opportunity exists for taking a catch or interme- 

 diate crop of some quick-growing plant, as buckwheat, 



