Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/186

166] By the 8th, c. 13, officers of the customs, who connive at, or assist in any fraud relative to certificate-goods, besides incurring the penalties therein mentioned, are to forfeit their office, and be imprisoned for six months without bail; similar penalties are inflicted on the masters or persons belonging to ships, detected in such unlawful practices.  DRAW-NET, a kind of net for taking the larger species of wild fowl: it ought to be made of the best packthread, with wide meshes; the whole should be about two fathoms in depth, and six in length; verged on either side with a very strong cord, and stretched at each end on long poles.

Draw-nets must be spread smooth and flat on the ground, and strewed over with sedge, grass, &c. to conceal them from the fowl. The sportsman should likewise shelter himself in an arbour covered with the boughs of trees, grass, fern, or other vegetables, in order to prevent his being discovered.—See also, vol. i. p. 261, and foll.  DRILLING, in husbandry, a method of sowing grain or seed of any kind, so that it may be deposited in the ground at an uniform depth; a circumstance of the utmost importance, to the production of healthy and vigorous plants.

This method differs from the old, or broad-cast husbandry, which is performed by sowing the grain, or seed, with the hand; whereas the new practice is effected by one of the most useful machines ever invented, and called a drill-. It was originally introduced into this country about sixty years since, and at first violently opposed as an useless innovation, till it was proved, by repeated experiments, to be indisputably the best mode of sowing hitherto contrived.—See, vol. i. p. 359.

By the broad-cast system of culture, the land is often sown in bad tilth, the seed is always scattered at random, and sometimes by very unskilful hands. In drilling, the ground must be in good order; and the seed set in trenches regularly drawn, all being nearly of an equal depth, which is adapted to the nature of each particular kind of seed. These seeds are also distributed at proper distances: and, by being equally and speedily covered, are most effectually protected from vermin, and other accidental injury. Farther, in consequence of the broad-cast practice, the seed falls in many places too thick, in others too thin; and, being imperfectly covered, part of it is devoured by vermin which follow the sower; the remainder is exposed to rain or frost, or to heats, either of which are very hurtful. When harrowed in, a considerable portion of the seed is so deeply buried in the soil, that if the latter be wet, it putrifies before it can vegetate.

Besides, when corn is thus sown, the crop will not admit of being touched afterwards, because its growth is irregular. The soil cannot be broken in order to afford it more nourishment; nor can even the weeds be destroyed without much damage and inconvenience. On the contrary, in the drill-husbandry, the intervals between the rows, whether double or single, may be horse-hoed; and nourishment may thus he repeatedly given to the plants, and the weeds almost totally extirpated. Drilling, however, is not calculated for every soil; yet as there are but few  tuations,