20 BULLETIN 479, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
METHODS OF SOWING. 
"Whether sowing shall be broadcast, in drills, or in flats will be 
governed largely by local conditions. Each method has advantages 
under certain conditions. 
In drill-sown beds cultivation and weeding between the rows by 
means of small hand tools is possible, and root priming can be prac- 
ticed. "Where cultivation is practiced there is less need of watering, 
and the soil is better aerated and is kept warmer and in better tilth. 
Even stands are more easily secured by an inexperienced man in 
drill sown than in broadcasted beds; seedlings can be more easily 
dug and with less damage to the roots, particularly in heavy soils, 
and in some cases winter damage from snow (as with Douglas fir at 
the Cottonwood Nursery) and heaving are less serious. Damping- 
off can be more readily controlled by cultivation when the beds 
are drill sown than when they are broadcasted, provided the con- 
ditions are such that cultivation is effective against the disease. 
Such cultivation, however, is seldom effective. On the other hand, 
the drill-sown seed in germinating may break the soil and leave 
an open ditch in line with the drills, thus exposing the seed which 
have not yet germinated. Where damping-off is prevalent this 
partly open ditch forms an ideal moist chamber for the development 
and spread of the fungus along the whole row. At the Priest Eiver 
Experiment Station damping-off has been more serious in drill-sown 
western yellow-pine beds than in broadcasted. Drill sowing is not 
well adapted to the sowing of seed with a low germination per cent, 
because the drills must be made deep and the seed sown very thick 
in the row, with the result that a portion of them do not come in con- 
tact with the soil, and the bottom seed are covered so deeply that 
upon sprouting they are unable to push their way through the cover- 
ing above them. 
In broadcasted beds cultivation is not possible and weeding must be 
done by hand, but if the beds are fully stocked the plants will shade 
the ground completely, decreasing evaporation and killing out the 
weeds, so that there is less need of these operations. A greater num- 
ber of good seedlings can be grown per square foot in broadcasted 
beds; if necessary an area can be resown without disturbing the 
original stand ; and the plants are less crowded and in general reach 
better development than in drill-sown beds. Broadcasting permits 
the necessary heavy sowing and uniform covering of seed having a 
low germination per cent. 
In general it seems that in heavy soils or at nurseries where the 
water supply is deficient, either of which makes cultivation desirable, 
or where root pruning is to be practiced drill sowing is preferable. 
"Where cultivation appears unnecessary and the water supply is sum- 
