46 FLAX CULTURE AND PREPARATION 



OPERATION OF SOWING 



47. Hand and Machine Sowing. From time immemorial the 

 flax seed has been sown broadcast by hand. (See Fig. 17.) 

 Within recent years a small machine denominated a " fiddle " 

 (Fig. 18), has been invented to do the work. In this sketch 

 the nose and distributing fan are shown drawn directly in 

 front of the sower. This is the correct position, when it is 

 desired to distribute the seed equally on either side. 



This machine is ingenious, simple and effective and is being 

 increasingly and extensively used. In capable hands it dis- 

 tributes the flax seed regularly and uniformly over a width 

 of 18 to 26 ft. for each traverse of the sower. (See Fig. 22.) 

 By its use the operation of sowing is reduced to simplicity and 

 the irregularities and waste of hand sowing are neutralized. 



48. Details of the " Fiddle." An underside plan view, a 

 sectional elevation and a plan of the distributing wheel are 

 given at Figs. 19, 20, and 21. The same letters in each 

 diagram refer to corresponding details of the machine. 



A indicates a portion of the base and supporting frame-work 

 of a box B which is designed to temporarily hold a supply of 

 seed. The sower generally provides for carrying a sufficiency 

 of seed to sow the prepared soil which can be covered by a 

 " to and fro " journey across the field. The amount of 

 seed necessarily varies, but arrangements can be made to 

 increase the quantity to any reasonable extent by simply 

 attaching a tubular piece of canvas to the upper part of the 

 seed box. 



An iron plate, C, termed the feed plate, with portions cut 

 away as shown at D, is pivoted on the small "stud E fixed in 

 the base of the box B. The cut-away portions with their 

 intersecting projections as shown, are designed to allow the 

 seed to fall by gravity but under control from the aperture 

 in the base of the seed box B on to an oscillating hexagonal 

 ribbed wheel F. The wheel F is secured to a small wooden 

 pulley G, in turn compounded with a vertical spindle H. 



