Malta.
A friend supplies me with the information that before drills were invented,
the labourers {523} considered it unlucky to miss a "bout" in corn or seed
sowing, will sometimes happened when "broadcast" was the only method. The
ill-luck did not relate alone to a _death_ in the family of the farmer or
his dependents, but to losses of cattle or accidents. It is singular,
however, that the superstition should have transferred itself to the drill;
but it will be satisfactory to E. G. R. to learn that the process of
_tradition_ and _superstition-manufacturing_ is not going on in the
nineteenth century.