80 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. VI 



not unfrequently with two seed-boxes, one on each side of the wheel, in 

 this fashion — 



They were, however, very imperfect ; for if the orifice of tlie funnel 

 was only wide enough to exactly admit the seed, it was apt to clog, thus 

 occasioning large spaces to be left blank ; and, if made sufficiently 

 wide to prevent this inconvenience, it then frequently sowed too much. 

 To remedy this defect, Mr. Bailey, of Chillingham, some years ago made 

 one of these implements upon an improved plan, which has been since 

 much adopted for the sowing of beans and turnips — as will be more par- 

 ticularly noticed when we treat of that culture — though larger ones, sow- 

 ing two or three drills at a lime, and drawn by a horse, are now more 

 generally used — particularly for turnips — and are certainly better calcu- 

 lated for that husbandry than small ones, as they not only save much time 

 at seasons when it is precious, but they also bury the seed with greater 

 exactness, and are therefore more certain to ensure vegetation. They, how- 

 ever, are found useful by small farmers, as a boy with a barrow can follow 

 the plough and deposit the seed at the bottom of the furrow ; or, sometimes 

 the barrow — when used with a single hopper, and without its coulter — is 

 fixed between the stilts of a double-mould board, or ridge-])lough, or 

 indeed of any common plough that is not worked too deep, and the seed 

 is sown as it goes along, and either covered by the next furrow slice, or 

 brushed over by the harrows. It thus forms a cheap and simple appa- 

 ratus, which renders it highly eligible in moderate concerns, as well as 

 to persons of moderate means, as it may be used in the culture of any crop, 

 and can be made to sow four or five acres a day in clay-lands, and in 

 seasons when the drill will not act. 



The machines now commonly employed for drilling the diiferent species 

 of grain, are similar in principle to those g'enerally known as Cooke's drill, 

 though with several minor improvements upon the original invention, and 

 are mounted upon a frame drawn by horses, containing an oblong box or 

 hopper for the reception of the seed and part of the machinery. When 

 ready for work, the back part of the implement is of the following ap- 

 pearance ; having iron coulters moveable to various distances to form the 

 drills, which are cut in grooves, of about two inches wide to any depth, 

 being regulated by weights held by small chains, which are supported by a 

 rack-wheel, wound up by a screw, and having tin funnels communicating 

 with the hopper for the purpose of depositing the seed. The bar, to 

 each end of which the horses are harnessed, being at the front, does not 



