This is the first operation of rearing. Where seeds are deposited
singly, as in rows of beans, or large ruts, they are said to be
planted; where dropt in numbers together, to be sown. The operation
of sowing is either performed in drills, patches, or broadcast.
Drills are small excavations formed with the draw-hoe, generally in
straight lines parallel to each other, and in depth and distance
apart, varying according to the size of the seeds. In these drills,
the seeds are strewed from the hand of the operator, who, taking a
small quantity in the palm of his hand and fingers, regulates its
emission by the thumb. Some seeds are very thinly sown, as the pea,
and spinage; others thick, as the cress, and small salad.
Patches are small circular excavations made with the trowel; in these
seeds are either sown or planted, thicker or thinner, and covered
more or less, according to their nature. This is the mode adopted in
sowing in pots, and generally in flower-borders.
In broad-cast sowing, the operator scatters the seed over a
considerable breadth of surface, previously prepared by digging, or
otherwise being minutely pulverized. The seed is taken up in portions
in the hand, and dispersed by a horizontal movement of the arm, to
the extent of a semi-circle, opening the hand at the same time, and
scattering the seeds in the air, so as they may fall as equally as
possible over the breadth taken in by the sower at once, and which is
generally six feet; that being the diameter of the circle in which
his hand moves through half the circumference. In sowing broad-cast
on beds, and narrow’ strips or borders, the seeds are dispersed
between the thumb and fingers, by horizontal movements of the hand in
segments of smaller circles.
Dry weather is essentially requisite for sowing, and more especially
for the operation of covering in the seed, which in broad-cast
sowing, is done by treading or gently rolling the surface, and then
raking it; and in drill-sowing, by treading in the larger seeds, as
peas, and covering with the rake; smaller seeds, sown in drills, are
covered with the same implement, without treading.