If you venture to plant it with the Drill, according to the Method wherein I have always had the best Success; let the Land be well prepared before you plant it. The Seed, if not well ordered, will very little of it grow; therefore ’tis convenient to try it in the manner mention’d in the Chapter of _Hoeing_; where are also Directions to find the proper Quantity and Depth to plant it at: I have observ’d, that the Heads of these Seeds are so large, and their Necks so weak[162], that if they lie much more than half an Inch[163] deep, they are not able to rise through the incumbent Mould; or if they are not cover’d, they will be malted[164]. A Bushel to an Acre is full twenty Seeds to each square Foot, in all I try’d; but there is odds in the Largeness of it, which makes some Difference in the Number. [162] The Kernel or Seed, being much swollen in the Ground, I call the Head: This, when it reaches above the Ground, opens in the Middle, and is formed into the Two first Leaves; the Husk always remaining at the same Depth at which it is cover’d: The String that passes from the Husk to the Head, is the Neck; which, when by its too great Length ’tis unable to support the Head till it reaches to the Air, rises up, and doubles above it; and when it does so, the Head, being turn’d with its Top downwards, never can rise any higher, but there rots in the Ground. [163] In very light Land the Seed will come up from a greater Depth; but the most secure Way is, not to suffer it to be cover’d deep in any Land. [164] We say it is malted, when it lies above-ground, and sends out its Root, which is killed by the Air. And whether we plant _bad_ Seed that does not grow, or _good_ Seed buried or malted, the Consequence will be much the same, and the Ground may be equally understock’d with Plants. The worst Seasons to plant it are the Beginning of Winter, and in the Drought of Summer. The best Season is early in the Spring. ’Tis the stronger when planted alone, and when no other Crop is sown with it[165]. [165] The worst Crop that can be sown amongst _St. Foin_, is Clover or Rye-Grass; Barley or Oats continue but a little while to rob it; but the other artificial Grasses rob it for a Year or Two, until the artificial Pasture is near lost; and then the St. Foin never arrives to half the Perfection as it will do when no other Grass is sown amongst it. The Injury these Hay-crops do to the St. Foin is best seen where some Parts of the same Field have them, and the other Parts are without them. If Barley, Oats, or other Corn sown with St. Foin, do lodge, it will kill[166] the young St. Foin that is under it: But then so great a Crop of Corn will certainly answer the very little Expence of drilling the St. Foin again, either the next Year, or as soon as the Corn is off the Ground.