II. The proper Quantity of Seed to be drill’d on an Acre, is much less than must be sown in the common Way; not because Hoeing will not maintain as many Plants as the other; for, on the contrary, Experience shews it will, _cæteris paribus_, maintain more; but the Difference is upon many other Accounts: As that ’tis impossible to sow it so even by Hand, as the Drill will do; for let the Hand spread it never so exactly (which is difficult to do some Seeds, especially in windy Weather), yet the Unevenness of the Ground will alter the Situation of the Seed; the greatest Part rebounding into the Holes, and lowest Places; or else the Harrows, in Covering, draw it down thither; and tho’ these low Places may have Ten Times too much, the high Places may have little or none of it: This Inequality lessens, in Effect, the Quantity of the Seed; because Fifty Seeds, in Room of One, will not produce so much as One will do; and where they are too thick, they cannot be well nourished, their Roots not spreading to near their natural Extent, for Want of Hoeing to open the Earth. Some Seed is buried (by which is meant the laying them so deep, that they are never able to come up, as _Columella_ cautions, _Ut absque ulla Resurrectionis Spe sepeliantur_): Some lies naked above the Ground; which, with more uncovered by the first Rain, feeds the Birds and Vermin. Farmers know not the Depth that is enough to bury their Seed, neither do they make much Difference in the Quantity they sow on a rough, or a fine Acre; tho’ the same that is too little for the one, is too much for the other; ’tis all mere Chance-work, and they put their whole Trust in good Ground, and much Dung, to cover their Errors. The greatest Quantity of Seed I ever heard of to be usually sown, is in _Wiltshire_, where I am informed by the Owners themselves, that on some Sorts of Land they sow Eight Bushels of Barley to an Acre; so that if it produce four Quarters to an Acre, there are but four Grains for one that is sown, and is a very poor Increase, tho’ a good Crop; this is on Land plowed once, and then double-dung’d, the Seed only harrow’d into the stale and hard Ground[47]; ’tis like not two Bushels of the eight will enter it to grow; and I have heard, that in a dry Summer an Acre of this scarce produces four Bushels at Harvest. [47] Stale Ground is that which has lain some considerable time after Plowing, before it is sown, contrary to that which is sown immediately after plow’d; for this last is generally not so hard as the former. But, in Drilling, Seed lies all the same just Depth, none deeper, nor shallower, than the rest; here’s no Danger of the Accidents of burying, or being uncover’d, and therefore no Allowance must be made for them; but Allowance must be made for other Accidents, where the Sort of Seed is liable to them; such as Grub, Fly, Worm, Frost, _&c._