Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/512

 sow

narrow-leaved male abrotanum. 4. The lefTer narrow-leaved male abrotanum. $. The fald-abrotanum with white ftalks. . 6. The broader-leaved held- abrotanum. 7. The field-airo- tanum with red ftalks. 8. The hoary fteld-abrotanum with the carline fmell. 9. The low abrotanum with very large yellow tufts of Rowers. 10. The fweet-fcented flax- leaved abrotanum. 11. The Spanifh abrotanum with pontic worm- wood leaves. 12. The fea Spanifh abrotanum with thick " fhining and rigid leaves. 13. The lightly hoary male abro- tanum of Surinam. And 14. the tall hoary abrotamm with very thick-fet leaves. Tourn. Inft. p. 458. Southernwood is an attenitant, and recommended by Tome in . ibppreffions of urine, a drachm of it in powder being the . .dole. Its decoction is good for recovering the hair when fallen off; and its juice is faid to cleanfe and heal old ulcers. The leaves of this plant dried and powdered, or given in a I ftrong infufion, are good in all obftrudtions of the liver and fpleen; they are alfo of confiderable virtue as antihyfterics, and are given in nephritic cafes. The good women give the eScprefled juice, of the tender tops of the plant, as a re- medy againft worms, and that with fuccefs. There are ac- counts of perfons being Cured of jaundices folely by the iame medicine. Matthiolus recommends the leaves dried, and taken in powder, as a remedy for the fluor albus. Female Southernwood. See the article Santolina. SOUTHING, in navigation, the difference of latitude a fhip

makes in failing to the fouthward. SOW, in the iron works, the name of the block or lump of metal they work at once in the iron-furnace. The fize of thefe fows of iron is very different, even from the fame workmen, and the fame furnace. Thefe furnaces having fandftone for their hearths and fides, up to the height of a yard, and the reft being made of brick, the hearth, by the force of the fire, is continually growing wider ; fo that if it at firft contains as much metal as will make a few of fix or (even hundred weight, at laft it will contain as much as will make a few of two thoufand weight. Ray 7 & Englifh Words, p.. 1 26. Sow, in zoology. See the articles Hog and Sus. %ow-bread. See the article Cyclamen. Sow-tbi/ik, in botany. See Sonchus. SOWING (Cycl.) — One very great article in /owing to ad- vantage, is to know exactly at what depth the feed may be planted, without danger of burying it. Seed is faid to be buried, when it is laid at a depth below what it is able to come up at. Different forts of feeds come up at different depths, fome fix inches, or more, and others will not bear to be buried at more than half an inch. The way to come at an accurate knowledge of the depth, at which every feed will come up beft from the /owing, is by making gages in the following manner. Saw off twelve flicks of about three inches diameter, bore a hole in the end of each ftick, and drive into each a taper peg; let the peg in the firft flick be half an inch long, the next an inch, and fo on, every peg being half an inch longer than the other, till the laft is fix inches long : then in that fort of ground, in which you in- tend to plant, make a row of twenty holes with the half- inch gage, put therein twenty good feeds, cover them up, and then ftick the gage at the end of that row. Proceed in the fame manner with the eleven other gages, making the holes in the fame row all with the fame gage, and flicking it at the end of the row : when the feeds begin to appear, it will be eafy to fee at what depth they come up beft, by ob- ferving the moft fiourifhing row, and taking up the gage at the end, and feeing what is its length. By this means we not only know what is the depth in that fort of ground, at which this fort of feed will come up beft, but alfo we are able to judge of the nature of the feed ; for by obferving how many of the twenty feeds that were /own come up, and how many fail, it is eafy to calculate how much bad feed there is among any given quantity, and to allow properly for it in the /owing, that the field may be neither overstocked with plants, nor too bare of them. The farmer often fuftains great loffes by /owing bad feed, or by burying good feed, and both might be effectually prevented, by making thefe eafy trials. One caution is to be obferved in this, that it is not proper to few the feeds of all plants at the greateft depths at which they will come up, becaufe in wheat, and fome other grain, a moift ground will rot the roots at this depth, Experience alone, added to thefe rules, can perfectly hiftruct the farmer in the certain way of fuc- ceeding ; the nature of the land, the manner how it is laid, either fiat or in ridges, and the feafon of planting, muft all be confidered.

The quantity of feed is to be different alfo, according to the manner of the few'tng. The proper quantity to be drilled into an acre, is much lefs than muft be /own in the com- mon way ; not becaufe the hoeing will not maintain as many plants as the other way, for, on the contrary, it will main- tain many more, but the difference is upon many other ac- counts, as that it is impoffible to few it fo evenly by hand a: the drill will do. For let the hand fpread it never fo ex- actly, which yet is difficult enough to do with fome feeds in windy weather, yet the unevennefs of the ground will

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alter the fituation of the feeds, the greateft part of them re- bounding into holes, and the loweft places, or elfe the har- rows, in covering, drawing them down thither; fo that thefe low places may have ten times too much feed, and thehigheft may have much too little, or even none of it, and this ine- quality leffens in effect the quantity of the feed, becaufe fifty feeds, in the room of one, will not produce fo much as one will do; and where they are too thick, without be- ing in thefe clufters, they cannot well be nourifhed, their roots not fpreading to near their natural extent, for want of hoeing to open the earth, and give them way. In the common way of /owing, fome of the feeds are buried out of all hope of ever coming up again, and fome others are left naked upon the furface,where they become the food of birds, and of vermin : as fo many muft, therefore, perifh in the common way of /owing, and fo few can be loft in the way by drilling, there is plain reafon why the feed, neceffary to few any given quantity of ground, fhould be much lefs for the drill-way, than for the other. The farmers, in general, know nothing of the proper depth at which they Qiould/ow their feed, nor of the difference in quantity that is to be obferved in different circumftances; they allow the fame quantity to an acre of rough ground, as they do to an acre of fine, and forget that what is too little for one, may yet be too much for the other; it is all mere chance-work, and they put their confidence in good ground, and a large quan- tity of dung to cover their errors.

The farmers in Wiltfhire allow more corn for the /oiving, than in any other part of England ; they ufe fometimes eight bufhels of barley to an acre, fo that if it produce four quarters for an acre, there is but four grains for one encreafe. This is fown on land plowed once, and double dunged, the feed only harrowed into the hard and ftale ground, fo that it is very probable that not fo much as two bufhels out of the eight take place, or come to any thing. Sometimes, in a very dry feafon, an acre fcarce produces four bufhels at the harveft.

Inftead of all this uncertainty and lofs in the common way, in drilling all the feed lies juft at the fame depth, not one grain of it being placed deeper or fhallower than the reft. As none of the feeds, therefore, can be loft by being buried, or by being expofed on the furface to vermin, no allowance is to be made for thefe accidents ; all that is to be allowed for in the /owing, is the mifchief that may happen from the worm, the froft, or the like unavoidable accidents, common to all feeds.

When a man has (by the ufe of the gages, and the growth of the feeds planted in the rows marked by them) proved the goodnefs of the feed, and found the depth it is to be -planted at, he is to calculate what number of feeds a bufhel, or any other weight or meafure, contains ; for one bufhel, 'or one pound of fmall feed, may contain double the number of feeds of a bufhel, or a pound of large feed of the fame fpecies. This calculation is made by weighing an ounce, and then calculating the number of feeds this ounce is com- pofed of; then weighing a bufhel, and multiplying the num- ber of feeds in an ounce by the number of ounces in the bufhel, and the product will give the number of feeds in the bufhel with fufKcient exadtnefs. When this is known, the feeds are to be proportioned by the Rule of Three to the fquare feet in an acre ; or elfe it may be done, by dividing the feeds of the bufhel by the fquare feet in an acre, and the quotient will give the number of feeds for every foot. Then the farmer is to confider how near he intends to plant the rows, and whether fmgle, double, treble, or quadruple; for the more numerous the rows are, the more feed will be required. The narrow fpaces between double, triple, or quadruple rows, fuppofe feven inches, the double having one, the treble two, and the quadruple three, are called partitions. The wide fpace, fuppofe of five feet, between any two of thefe double, treble, or quadruple rows, is called an interval.

Examine next what is the produce of one middle fized plant of the annual, but the produce of the beft and largeft of the perennial fort, becaufe that, by hoeing, will be brought to its utmoft perfection ; proportion the feed of both to the reafonable product, and when it is worth while -adjuft the plants to their competent number with the hand-hoe after they are up, and plant perennials generally in fingle rows. Laftly, plant fome rows of the annual thicker than others, which will foon give experience, preferable to all the rules in the world, for the quantity of feed neceffary for the drilling.

The diftances of the rows is one extremely material point in the obtaining a good crop ; but as a much larger diflance is to be allowed in thefe, than common practice has been ufed to, it is very difficult to pcrfuade the farmer to venture a trial at fuch diftances as he may have experience from. There is a method of planting the rows by the drill at very near diftances, and in this work one horfe may draw a drill with eleven fhares, making the rows at three inches and a half diftance from each other, and at the fame time /swing in them three different forts of feeds, which do not mix, and thefe at different depths. Thus the barley-rows may

be