B28 



Machine for sowing Plants in Ro'ucs, 



Art. IV. Descript707i of a Machine for the Soroi^ig of Plants 

 in Rows, with a Word or Tiw on French Transplanting. By 



S. X. p. 



' Sir, 



As some of your correspondents recommend the sowing 



and planting of vegetables in rows, I am induced to send you a 



drawing of a pair of boards, which I have used for many years 



with much success. They consist of two half-inch deals, 4 ft. 



long, and 1 ft. wide. [fig. 83.) 



Across the two boards {ah c 



d^e f g h) are fastened trian- 

 gular pieces of oak, 1 in. 



deep, by 1 J in. wide {i j k I 



m n o p q r). The two first 



{i n) are placed 6 in. from 



their ends, and the other 



pieces 9 in. apart, which will 



place the two last (»?, r) 6 in. 



from the other ends of the 



boards; each board has a 



leather strap [s t), 3 ft. long, 



by 1 in. wide, nailed 6 in. 



from the ends, to raise it 



up by, when lying upon the 



bed. 



, The boards are used in the 



following manner. Prepare a 

 bed of 4 ft. wide, place the garden line so that it may hang length- 

 wise over the edge of one side of it (u v) ; place the boards 

 close together, so as to cover the end of the bed, leaving the 

 ends of them almost to touch the line ; stand upon the two, 

 that they may be pressed down equally. Afterwards stand 

 upon the second board, and remove the first quite close be- 



liind the second, and press that down. Then sow the seeds 



-into the five little grooves in the bed (w w w w w), made by 

 the first board ; afterwards remove the second board behind, 

 and repeat the same operation as before, until the bed is 

 sown. Then finish the whole by raking a little soi^ over 

 the seeds. In the drawing, one of the boards (efg h) is 

 raised up to show the under side, and also the five triangular 

 cross pieces. The boards must not be thicker than half an 

 inch, otherwise they become too heavy ; and the cross pieces 

 must be put on very exact as to distances, otherwise they will 

 not form straight lines down the bed. 



