The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-03-20
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Drill HuSbandry.

Our tlblo uiSAb NC COHuHtu W tuo sowing
of seeds by mechanical contrivances; we re-
fer, however, to the sowing and plant
ing of seeds in rows, rather than hills,
whether in the garden or field, by the hand
or the drill. 1t is our conviction that it is
better for the soil, and the crop, and the Gull
tivator, that every crop, grass perhaps ex-
cepted, should be cultivated in rows or drills.
1t is somewhat singular that at the present
day the subject should be open for discussion,
when we read that the Arabs, Chinese and
other Oriental nations have practiced drilling
and dibbling seed from time immemorial-
thereby recognizing the superiority of these
methods over planting in hills or broadcast
sowing.
In England also this practice is far in adj
vance of our own, as seed drills, manure
drills and drill plows have been used there
for more than two centuries, although it is
not much over single century since Jethro
Tull added many improvements 10 them, and
urged their general introduction. Since his
day so many changes have been made by in
ventors and cultivators, that the machines
now used may be said to be of recent origin.
With all the scientific culture and the lib
eral expenditure for fertilizers SO general
among the enlightened farmers of England,
we doubt whether their large crops of wheat
would have been Misunderstanding the
enormous yield of ninety bushels, and aver
aging from thirty to forty per acre-had it
not been for the advantages resulting from
cultivation in drills.
We have been recently agreeably surprised
to learn that this mode of husbandry is gain
ing steadily in our older wheat-growing states.
The editor of an agricultural journal in a late
communication states that in ride of twenty
miles through wheat country he did not see
a single field of wheat of Notwithstanding.
Without at present mentioning the special
benefits resulting from drill sowing, we
quote in, passing from Report Of the De-
partment of Agriculture, which says: "that
in every locality where wheat suffered from
freezing, the drill fields are unscathed, while
those which were sown broadcast are in mis-.
cradle condition"
1t is hardly necessary to quote from Col
man and other later authorities, to prove that
the product of the wheat crop has been en-
larged by drill cultivation-the former writ
er states that even when sowed and cultivat-
ed by hand, the same result followed. We
regard that point as definitely settled; and
as intelligence and improved cultivation pre-
vail in this country, no other practice will be
thought of.
Reasoning from analogy, or the ordinary
principles of common sense, and we must ar.
rive at the conclusion, that all the field grains
cultivated by the farmer, should receive the
same treatment, under the reasonable expec-
tation of corresponding results.
The selfevident statement of the Ameri-
can Agriculturist. that "All cereal grains
would be as much helped by cultivating as
corn;, needed no accompanying demonstra-
tion-and should be made matter of practi-
cal adoption, by all progressive farmers.
1t is however in the corn field, that we ex-
pect progress in this direction will be slow; as
we have been for two hundred years under
bonage to an absurd custom. The ignorant
and indolent Indian, dug with his clam shell
hole in the unplowed earth, and huddled
therein the kernels of corn, and then gath
cred the scanty growh-why it is, that white
men of the nineteenth century with their
plows, and hoes, their skilled labor, and
wealth of fertilizers, and an entire change of
circumstances; should follow so submissively
in his steps, and do precisely as be did, we
cannot comprehend.
We can conceive of 10 reason why corn in
the garden or field, should not be planted or
sowed in drills-and it would seem that it
ought not to be necessary to give any reason
for adopting the practice. All hardy plants
for out door culture need, and should re-
ceive, full access and exposure to air and
light; and should have ample room for their
roots TO penetrate the soil for food without
let or hindrance. The florist who should
crowd several plants into pc t., or the gar
dener who should set out three ,r four toma-
toes or cabbages in hill, or ms 1T the same
number of shade trees in single hole, would
receive deserved censure. Why should not
the farmer likewise receive it, who commits
parallel folly in every hill of corn that he
plants? Will not some of our readers who
have hardly dared to leave the old way in
their fields venture the next season to ex
pertinent in their gardens with little corn
in drills?
In garden culture no other system should
be practised-for peas, beans and potatoes it
has long been adopted by many gardeners /;
and for vines even it answers very well. For
the ordinary vegetables lay out single bed
the nearer square the better-to be well
trenched or spaded and then leveled, always
avoiding the long narrow beds with rows
across and the ezcavated paths between,
which drain out all moisture, then using a
marker, SOW in drills fourteen or eighteen
inches apart, or width sufficient to admit
man with his hoe. In such bed each
variety may be sown by itself, or in alternate
rows.
In addition to the considerations already
named we mention as some of the advan-
tages of drill husbandry, the general econ
omy of time, labor and money, particularly
of manual labor, as it gives better opportu-
mites for using animal and mechanical aids.
Seeds are covered an uniform depth, a small
er quantity is required, the crop is forwarded,
weeds are more readily destroyed, more land
can be planted and larger crops are realized.
Meat and Manure.
Let it be remembered that the manufac-
ture of beef is only profitable when it is coup
led with the production of manure. Both