18 BROOM-CORN AND BROOMS. 



seed drills may be used ; the land being first marked off 

 with a corn-marker. Whether sown by hand or garden 

 drill in a continuous row, the seed must be covered by 

 the use of a light harrow drawn lengthwise of the row ; 

 once only will be sufficient, unless the soil is hard and 

 Iump3^, which it should not be ; if necessary to go over 

 with the harrow twice, it should be run in the same di- 

 rection as at first. 



The various one and two-horse corn-planters have 

 Broom-corn attachments, and may be quickly changed 

 from Indian corn to Broom-corn planters, and some may 

 be arranged to drop the seed 2 or 3 inches apart in a con- 

 tinuous row, or drop several seeds in a place at desired 

 intervals; 6 to 10 seeds at intervals of 15 to 18 inches is 

 a common method, while other large growers prefer the 

 seed at equal distances. The machine at the same time 

 covers the seed. A good two-horse planter, planting two 

 rows at a time, will finish up 20 acres in a day. 



The regular covering of the seed is of great importance, 

 and^ in order that the machine may do it well, the soil 

 must be very fine and mellow. The planter may be set 

 to cover to any desired depth, which should never be less 

 than three-fourths of an inch, or more than an inch 

 and a half. 



QUANTITY OF SEED TO THE ACRE. This will of 

 course depend upon the method of planting, and is 

 stated at all the way from 2 quarts to half a bushel to the 

 acre. Much of the seed contains many imperfect and 

 poorly ripened ones, and allowance must be made for 

 these, and for the chance that some may be covered too 

 deep. The estimate that a bushel of good sound seed 

 put in by a good planter, will plant 15 acres, (which is 

 not far from 2 quarts to the acre), is a safe one, though it 

 does not accord with that of a New England writer some 

 20 years ago, who thought a peck enough for an acre, but 



