Tf 



DROIT8 OF ADMIRALTY. 



DROPSY. HY DROPS. 



(176 



regularly and u better covered than it could possibly be by the bat 

 broad -oa*t nwar followed by UM harrows. In very itiff heavy ail*, 

 ad in moist sosrma, it ii not to practicable to use tbe drill. It U 

 sometime* impossible to get tbe land sufficiently dry and pulveriaed 

 to allow of (billing to advantage ; and when the Uml u wet tbe tread 

 of UM barm would greatly injure it. If wet clay soil* were more 

 generally underdrained, they might be rendered so dry and friable 

 that tbe drill could he uaed at all time*. 



In poor Bandy and gravrlly aoiU wbere bone* hare been found of ao 

 great advantage a* a manure, drilling U the only mode by which the 

 bonoi and the seed out be aown in contact with each other; an 

 important circunuUnco. When the ground ban been well prepared 

 and laid into atitcbea of a convenient width, a whole stitch may be 

 drilled at one*, with ao much regularity, that an instrument with as 

 many hoea a* there are drill*, and of the mint 1 width, may be drawn 

 over the land to atir all the interval*, without danger of injuring the 

 plant*. Thi require* great practice and attention; but it may be 

 ncsMJiUiuil the perfection of the drill system. Where drilling seed 

 is generally adopted, and the farms are not ao large as to make it 

 prudent for tbe occupier to purchase expensive iustrumvuU, drilling 



i* become a separate profession. An induitriou* man with a small 

 capital buys improved drills, and undertakes to drill the aeed at a 

 certain price per acre. The fanner finds horses and seed, and tin- 

 drillrr find* the machine, and attend* to the management of it him 

 elf. By constantly doing the aame thing he become* very expert ; 

 n. 1 in a neighbourhood where there are many small occupiers, a good 

 drilling-machine, which coU from SO/, to SO/., procure* the owner n 

 very good livelihood during tbe whole season of sowing ; and if tin- 

 instrument* for hoeing were more generally used, the profeasi. 

 IIOIT of land might be advantageously united to that of the driller. 

 Corn is generally drilled at the distance of eight or nine inches : 

 machine which drills twelve rows will cover a stitch ten fei 

 Some prefer the rows to be nearer, but in that case the hoeinx . 

 so easily performed with a machine, and it is done by Inn. I Tl, 

 most improved machines for drilling are made by most of our Agricul- 

 tural machine-makers they are called Suffolk drills, from the . 

 in which they originated sowing from ten to fifteen rows at 

 The description of the Northumberland turnip-drill will mat 

 construction of Cook's drill moro easily understood. In the annexed 

 figure the box for sowing manure is uot added, as it u in the 



Suffolk Pttent Drill, drawn from one manufactured by Messn. Cottam and Hillen, Winsley Street, Oxford Street, London. 



Northumberland drill. The drill is supported on a frame and two 

 wheel*. The box A, which holds the seed, let* it down gradually into 

 a lower part, in which the cylinder, which has the small cup* fixed to 

 it* circumference, is turned by the wheel D. By means of the lever o 

 this may be raised so that its teeth are freed from those of the wheel 

 E, and the motion of the cylinder is stopped. The coulters which 

 make the drills are each fixed to a lever, at one end of which, u, a 

 weight is fixed to press the coulter into the ground. Each coulter has 

 a separate lever, so that it adapt* iUclf to all the inequalities of the 

 oil. A chain proceeds from the end of each, and may be wound 

 round a cylinder c by turning the handle* fixed to it at a, where there 

 i* also a racket-wheel to prevent it* unwinding. The intent of thin is 

 to raise all the coulters out of tbe ground, when the drill is not 

 intended to act, or is moved from place to place. When the drill in 

 used, the box A is filled with seed, and the slide in it so adjusted a* to 

 supply it regularly ; the lever o, which was fixed down, ia raised, and 

 the wheel D connected with the wheel E. As the horses proceed, the 

 cylinder turns, the cut* take up the seed, and throw it into the 

 funnels K K, which conduct it to the drill behind the coulter. A light 

 harrow, or a bush-harrow, follows, which covers the seed. In very 

 loose soils the roller completes the operation. These figure* may 

 suffice to indicate the general form and arrangement of these machine*, 

 though there are many niceties of construction distinguishing those 

 manufactured by different firms, which are not represented, and the 

 description of which here U hardly consistent with the plan of this 



v. : ' 



DROITS OF ADMIRALTY are the perquisites attached to the 

 office of Admiral of England (or Lord High Admiral), and belonging, 

 when that office is vacant, to the crown. Of these perquisites the 

 most valuable is the right to the property of an enemy seized on the 

 breaking out of hostilities. Large sums were obtained by the crown 

 on various occasions in the course of the war with France from the 

 seiiure of the enemy's property, most of which however was eventually 

 givan up to the public service. All such sums are now paid into the 



Exchequer, and the perquisites formerly belonging to the Lord High 

 Admiral (a tenth) have been given by statute to the captors. 



DROPSY, HYDROPS, a preternatural collection of watery fluid in 

 different parts of the body. In the state of health, there is constantly 

 poured out upon every surface, cavity and interstice of the body, a 

 watery fluid derived from the blood and deposited by the capillary 

 blood-vessels. [CAPILLARY VESSELS, NAT. HIST. Drv.] This fluid 

 does not remain long where it is deposited, but by vessels appro; 

 to the office, termed absorbents, is soon taken up and reconveyed into 

 the common circulating mass. As long as there is a perfect balance of 

 action between these two set* of vessels, which is always the case in 

 health, there is no accumulation of fluid, the exhalation and the ab- 

 sorption being always exactly equal. But if from any cause that 

 balance be disturbed ; if either the capillary blood-vessels pour out an 

 unusual quantity of fluid, or if the absorbents fail to act will; 

 accustomed energy, an accumulation of fluid must necessarily take 

 place, and this accumulation, when it amount* to an appreciable quan- 

 tity, constitutes the disease called dropsy. It follows that dropsy 

 must always be the consequence either of increased exhalation or of 

 diminished absorption. 



The causes which lead to increased effusion are exceedingly vat 

 but they are all resolvable either into those which produce a morbid 

 condition of the blood-vessels, an obstruction to the free dr. ul 

 the blood, or a morbid condition of the blood iUclf. Tbe inorlii.l . . u 

 (Ution of the blood-vessels may be of two opposite kinds, eitlt. T : 

 preternatural strength, in consequence of which their action may bo so 

 excited as to pour out an unusual quantity of fluid ; or that of extreme 

 debility, in consequence of which they may be unable to prevent a 

 preternatural exudation of the thinner part* of the blood through then- 

 relaxed coats. These different states of the blood-vessels depend on 

 two diametrically opposite conditions of the system, and accordingly 

 the different species of dropsy are very generally divided into active or 

 passive, acute or chronic, ithenic or asthenic. 



Whenever an obstacle is opposed to the free return of the blood 



