Ch. VI.] DRILL IMPLEMENTS. 79 



riable system. What is right one year, and even for years together, may 

 another year be wrong ; and that farmer who happens to suffer severely by 

 pursuing a right system in a wrong year, is shy of it for ever after ; espe- 

 cially if he has suffered by deviating from any old mode to which a popular 

 opinion has been long attached ; for, in this case, he not only suffers the 

 loss of his property, but he is sure to be laughed at by all his neighbours, 

 and even by his own labourers *." Added to this, time and labour at all 

 times, and especially during the seed process, are very important consider- 

 ations, independent of expense : the establishment of men and horses is 

 the heaviest charge on farming, and should be economically propor- 

 tioned to the business of the whole year ; but drilling demands more than 

 double the time of broad-cast sowing, and in precarious seasons may 

 consequently require a greater strength of hands and cattle than may be 

 convenient. 



DRILL IMPLEMENTS. 



The operation of drilling requires that the land should be brought into 

 a fine state of tilth, and the greatest attention must be paid to the execution 

 of the work, for the nearer the mode of culture approaches to that adopted 

 by market-gardeners, the closer will it be found to arrive at perfection. 

 After the usual ploughings have been given, the most customary plan is 

 to pulverize the top soil by the means of the grubber — used crosswise if 

 necessary ; the ground being thus equally tilled and cleansed from weeds 

 by subsequent harrowing, is regularly cast into ridges and furrowed, and 

 is afterwards rolled down in a direction with the inclination of the field ; 

 though, in very dry and light soils, the land is sometimes quite level. 

 The rows are then accurately marked out at various distances, according 

 to the nature and quantity of the seed intended to be sown — as will of course 

 be stated under the separate heads of the different crops intended for cul- 

 tivation — but much care is requisite to keep the machine in a straight 

 direction, or the drills will run into each other in some places, and leave 

 corresponding gaps in others. On rich land it is thought a good practice 

 to run the drills from north to south, because the rays of the sun, when in 

 its greatest altitude, striking directly between the rows, have a powerful 

 effect in promoting vegetation, and, especially on wheat crops, it has been 

 found to assist in preventing mildew. But it also tends to absorb the 

 moisture too suddenly from the earth ; and, we should conceive, that in 

 most cases — and more particularly in light soils — it is more advisable to 

 draw them east and west. 



A great variety of implements have been invented since the practice 

 came into vogue for the purpose of facilitating the process ; but we only 

 deem it necessary to enumerate a few of them, as they all act upon nearly 

 the same principle, and those which are only used for one particular purpose 

 will be described under that head. 



The drills which were at first used were constructed upon very simple 

 principles, consisting only of a hopper, containing a funnel of tin with a 

 small hole in the bottom, through which the seed passed, and a coulter to 

 mark the drill. The hopper was mounted upon a small frame supported 

 by a single wheel, and was wrought by hand, being pushed along the furrow 

 by the person who sowed the seed, whence the implements obtained the 

 name of drill-harrows. They are made either with a single hopper, or 



* Davis's Wiltshire Report, p. 55. 



