AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND MACHINES. 401 
a necessity for this class of agricultural machinery was felt. The first 
patent granted for a corn-planter in this country was to Eliakim 
Spooner, of Vermont, January 25, 1799; the first for a cotton-planter 
to Christopher Ford, of Virginia, May 26, 1825. From 1800 to 1828 
there were but few patents granted for seeding-machines of any descrip- 
tion. August 13, 1828, a patent was granted to Austin H. and Levi 
tobbins for a machine for planting different seeds. The machine is 
placed upon a frame and wheel similar in construction to that of a com- 
mou wheel-barrow, and was pushed over the ground, the operator walk- 
ing behind. A writer, speaking of this machine, in November, 1828, 
sets forth its value as follows: 
There can be no difficulty in the application of this machine to the planting of any 
kind of seeds, and any number of them at a time, and at any required distance, as fast 
as a man can walk. When the rows are set four feet apart one way and eighteen 
inches the other, there is no difficulty, nor is it a very hard day’s work, for a man 
to plant ten acres after the ground is properly prepared to receive the seed. 
August 22, 1828, a patent was granted to Orson Starr, of Richmond, 
Ontario County, New York, for a “ machine for planting grain and other 
seeds.” This machine differs from the one above mentioned in several 
particulars. It has handles and a beam similar to the common plow, 
supported from the rear by wheels; beneath and about the center of 
the beam there is a shovel plow to open the furrow for the reception of 
the seed, and to the rear of the machine is attached an iron seraper to 
close the furrow after the seed is dropped. On the top of the beam is 
placed a hopper in which a cylinder is made to revolve by suitable 
mechanism. The cylinder is made of sheet iron; the edge of it is perfo- 
rated at suitable distances to receive pieces of metal which act as valves 
working upon a pin, and forced out by springs contained within the 
wheel, so as to project beyond its periphery, but capable of being forced 
in when passing the ends of the slot in the bottom of the hopper. 
These valves contain the quantity of seed to be dropped in each hill, and 
may be more or less numerous according to the distance at which they 
are to be dropped in the furrow. For a full description and representa- 
tions of the two last-named machines, see the Franklin Journal, vol. 
6, second series, pages 343 to 348. 
Numerous patents have been taken out within the past few years for 
seeding machines, which may be divided into the following classes, viz: 
Ist. Broadcast seeders, by which the seed is sown broadcast over the 
land. 2d. Grain drills, by which the seed is deposited in drills. 3d. 
Corn planters, by which the seed is, for the most part, planted in hills. 
4th. Cotton planters. 5th. Potato planters. Not a few persons have at- 
tempted to combine all the above-named machines in one, and besides 
add a plow, harrow, cotton-chopper, and cultivator. It is enough to 
say that the attempt has been a failure. A machine can easily 
be so arranged as to be changed trom a grain drill to plant in 
ills, by diminishing the number of cavities on the dropping wheel ; 
then, by removing the dropping mechanism the machine may 
be used as a wheel cultivator, a wheel plow, or a harrow, or even a 
land-roller may be attached; but to plant cotton or potatoes a general 
shange in the whole dropping mechanism would be required. Cotton 
seed cannot be dropped with accuracy either by a slide or by a revolv- 
ing cylinder, owing to the lint with which the seed is covered. It 
requires a cylinder (revolving in the bottom of the hopper) provided 
with arms, slightly curved in the direction in which they move, so 
that as the arms pass-through a slot in the bottom of the hopper a 
certain quantity of the seed will be carried with them. Potatoes could 
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