having first ploughed the soil to make ridges so that the seed could fall into the ground. However, the success of the seed depended upon the condition of the soil. Some of the seed fell upon the hard pathway which ran through the fields. That seed did not germinate; it was trampled upon by the feet of passers-by and the birds ate it up. Some of the seed fell where there was only a thin covering of soil over rock, but because there was not sufficient soil and moisture the plants did not grow well