i he Seeding oe Grain. 



445 



consequently, should always be sown with an extra quantity 

 of seed. 



Broadcasting and Drilling. 



In the southern half of England grain of all kinds is 

 usually sown by the drill, but the farther you go north, drilling 

 gradually decreases, and broadcasting, principally by hand, 

 gradually increases. In the best farming districts of Scot- 

 land drills are used on a few farms and broadcast sowing- 

 machines on others, but the great bulk of grain is there sown 

 by hand. In some districts the custom is to sow with one 

 hand, but throughout a large part of the country the pre- 

 vailing method is to use both hands. It is as easy to learn to 

 sow with both hands as with one, and when learned it is not 

 only more expeditious, but the seed is more uniformly 

 distributed. The small extent to which the grain drill is used 

 in Scotland is in great part accounted for by the damp and 

 fickle climate, which necessitates pushing on the work when 

 a favourable opportunity occurs. 



Since the introduction ol the American patterns of chilled 

 ploughs, with concave mould boards and broad shares, it has 

 been found that, while most land may be ploughed cheaper 

 with them than with the swing plough, they break up the 

 furrow so much, that if the seed is sown broad-cast, it is 

 very difficult to readily and effectively cover it. This has 

 necessitated an extra expenditure for seed, and in order to 

 prevent loss in that way, drills are now being used in districts 

 where previously they were unheard of. The patterns 

 principally in demand are those having either shoe or hoe 

 coulters, pressed in by the weight of the machine acting on 

 springs. These give greater penetrative power than the old 

 British pattern, and as the weights which were used to load 

 the coulters are done away with, a lighter and yet a more 

 effective machine is produced. Seeding by the drill in prefer- 

 ence to broadcasting admits of a saving of from f to i bushel 

 of wheat, and from i to \\ bushels of barley or oats, per acre 

 on any but the firmest and best ploughed lands, without any 

 reduction in the thickness of the crop. 



The extra labour involved in sowing with the drill, over 



