When the field is level or gently sloping there is no difficulty in making straight rows so far as check rowing is concerned. When the field is hilly another problem crops up. It is almost impossible to run corn rows along the side of a hill and keep them straight. The planter has a tendency to slide downhill. Also the distance across a field is greater where the rows pass over a hill. To keep the rows straight under such conditions allowance must be made for the stretch over the hill as well as for the side thrust of the planter. Where a chain marker is used it hangs downhill and a further allowance must be made for that. A good driver will skip an inch or so above the mark so that the rows will be planted fairly straight. This means a good deal more in check rowing than when the corn is planted in drills. The greatest objection to hill planting is the crowding of four corn plants into a space that should be occupied by one plant. A great many experiments have been tried to scatter the seeds in the hill, so far without definite results, except when considerable additional expense is incurred. However, a cone suspended below the end of the dropping tube usually will scatter the seeds so that no two seeds will touch each other. They may not drop and scatter four or five inches apart, but these little cones will help a good deal. They must be accurately adjusted so the point of the cone will center in the middle of the vertical delivery tube, and there must be plenty of room all around the cone so the corn seed kernels won't stick. The braces that hold the cones in place for the same reason must be turned edge up and supported in such a way as to leave plenty of clearance. The idea is that four kernels of corn drop together. They strike the cone and are scattered in different directions. They naturally fly to the outsides of the drill mark which scatters them as wide apart as the width of the shoe that opens the drill. The advantage of scattering seed grains in the hill has been shown by accurate experiments conducted at different times by agricultural colleges. GRAIN DRILL