SOWING AND SOWING-MACHINES. The sowing of the seed has always been looked upon as one of the most important operations of husbandry. Much of the success of the future crops depends on the time and the mode in which the seed is committed to the earth. After the land has been well prepared by judicious tillage and manuring, many accidents and circumstances may disappoint the hope of the farmer, and the crop may be scanty or fail altogether. The weather and the seasons are not under his control, and he must submit to the dispensations of Providence with pious resignation ; but much also depends on his own judgment and skill. if he selects the best seeds, chooses the proper season for sowing them, and has them carefully distributed and properly covered with earth, as their nature requires for the most perfect germination, and thus also protects them from the voracity of birds or insects, he will have a much greater prospect of success, under all circumstances, than if he were careless or negligent.
The most common mode of sowing the seed is by scattering it as evenly as possible over the ploughed surface, as it lies in ridges from the plough. The harrows follow, and crumbling down the ridges, cover the seed which has fallen in the hollows between them. It requires an experienced sower to scatter the exact quantity over a given surface, without crowding the seed in one spot, and allowing too great intervals in another. Hence the farmer who does not him self sow the seed, invariably chooses the most experienced and skilful labourer to perform this work. Notwithstanding every care and attention on the part of the farmer or master, the labourer will often relax and become careless, and the result appears only when it is too late to remedy it. This has given rise to the various attempts which have been made to invent machines for sowing the seed, such as should insure perfect regularity. Of some of these we will now give a abort account.
One of the simplest of these machines consisted in a hollow cylinder, with one or more rows of holes in a line parallel to the axis. These holes can be stopped in part if required. The seed is put into the cylinder, the length of which is equal to the width of the land, or stitch, which it is desired to sow at a time. By shaking this when held horizontally and at right angles to the path of the sower, the seed is scattered with considerable regularity : one inconvenience of this instrument is that it requires to be filled frequently, and that much still depends on the attention of the operator. Accordingly it was very soon laid by. The idea, however, was followed up and improved upon in the sowing-barrow, an instrument still extensively used for sowing grass-seeds. consists of a wooden trough placed on the frame of a light wheelbarrow. An iron spindle, furnished with circular brushes at regular intervals, runs the whole length of the trough, and is turned by means of simple machinery connected with the wheel. Opposite each brush is a brass plate, with hales of different sizes, which can be partly closed by means of a circular elide. According to the size of the seed to be sown and the quantity to be scattered, the holes are opened or shut. The seed is put into the trough, which has a cover or lid; and by merely wheeling the barrow in a straight line, a breadth is sown equal to the length of the trough, usually 12 or 15 feet. But
this machine cannot conveniently be used in windy weather, which disperses the seeds irregularly; and it is very little superior to sowing by the band, except in the case of small seeds, which cannot so well be spread evenly by the hand.
The drill has suggested other more complicated machines, of which some account will be found in the article DRILL. The prin ciple of these is to deliver the seed by means of funnels, each corre sponding to a small furrow made by a coulter placed immediately before the funnel ; and some of these machines perform the work very regularly and satisfactorily. As the inequalities of the ground require that the coulters should move up or down, to allow for these in equalities, the seed cannot be accurately deposited at a given depth ; and some further improvement in the mode of drilling Is yet desirable, though much has been effected. The patent lever-drill in common, use is very imperfect in its work, and the remedy lies in the greater attention to the preparation of the surface. When this is effected, the levers may be set aside, and a much simpler drill, such as was used at first, may replace it. The object is to make furrows of equal depth in which to deposit the seed, and to cover this uniformly. The land must consequently be more carefully prepared by repeated harrowing and rolling, till the surface resembles the seed-beds in a garden. A simple drill, which makes equidistant furrows at a given depth, in which the seed drops regularly, will then do better work than a more complicated machine ; but if still greater accuracy and perfection are desired, the dibble must be had recourse to. No one will deny that seed deposited by means of a dibble is distributed more equally and covered with a more equal depth of soil than by any other means, and that there is a great economy of seed in this mode of sowing ; but the slowness of the operation, and the number of hands it would require to dibble all the seed on a large farm, have prevented its being very generally adopted. [AnenLE LAND.] Many attempts have been made to invent machines to imitate the work done by hand in dibbling, but hitherto with no marked success, owing chiefly to the difficulty of clearing the dibbles from the adhering soil, and making a clean bole, and also of letting the seed fall exactly in the dibble-holes.
SOY, is obtained from the Soja hispida, or Sofa japonica [So.'s, in Nex. HIST. DIV.] From the seeds of this leguminous plant, the Japanese prepare the sauce termed Beef; which has been corrupted into Soy. The beans are boiled until the water is nearly evaporated, and they begin to burn; when they are taken from the fire, and placed in large wide-mouthed jars, exposed to the sun and air ; water and a certain proportion of molasses or very brown sugar are added. These jars are stirred well every day, until the liquor and beans are completely mixed and fermented; the material is then strained, salted, and boiled, and skimmed until clarified. There are two or three qualities of soy. Japanese soy is much esteemed in China on account of the superior manner in which it is made. Soy is only sparingly used as a sauce in this country.