DRILL-MACHINES. 



DRILL-MACHINES. 



Plate 14, fig. 3, by the description we have 

 given of Cooke's and of the subsequent im- 

 provements by Baldwin, Wells, and Smyth, the 

 plan -will be fully understood. 



The Suffolk grain and manure drill may also 

 be arranged for sowing turnips and manure at 

 the same time. In such cases the corn-box 

 has to be exchanged for a double one, in one 

 part of which runs a spindle with brushes, 

 where the turnip-seed is contained. There are 

 small copper slides, with different numbers, 

 from one to six holes pierced in them, through 

 which the seed is delivered as required. The 

 other part of the box contains the manure, 

 which is thrown into the funnels, and these are 

 so arranged that it drops into the earth just 

 before the seed. 



Morton's improved grain drill, is spoken of 

 in the Highland Society's Transactions, (vol. 

 vii.) as decidedly the simplest and best of grain 

 drills. A description and cut of this machine 

 which drills 3 rows, is given in Loud. Encyc. 



<>f .'/:,'/., p. 409. 



Hornsly's Patent Drop Drill is intended for 

 dropping seed with manure at intervals, but 

 the construction of it is very different from the 

 Suffolk. In this, the manner of regulating the 

 delivery is by having a coulter of a peculiar 

 form inside, in which a circular box revolves 

 on an axle which passes through one side 

 thereof. This box is divided into compart- 

 ments closed by small doors, which are kept 

 shut by a spring to each ; the compartments in 

 the box are supplied through a series of fun- 

 nels, the end of the lower one entering one 

 side of the box below the centre. 



On the machine being moved forwards, this 

 box revolves by means of appropriate cog- 

 wheels ; and as each spring arrives at the 

 ground, the door to which it is attached opens, 

 and the contents of that compartment are depo- 

 sited, to be again replaced, when it arrives at 

 the part of its rotation at the end of the funnel, 

 and so on successively. 



GrounselFs Patent Drop Drill. This drill is 

 for the purpose of depositing corn, grain, pulse, 

 and manure at intervals, the distances of which 

 may be regulated at pleasure. (PI. 14, fig. 4.) 



To effect the purposes above mentioned, a 

 circular iron ring is fixed about midway be- 

 tween the nave and rim of the drill carriage- 

 wheel. In this there is a number of holes to 

 carry a series of studs, which may be varied 

 according to circumstances ; and as these 

 studs come in succession, when the wheel 

 turns they open valves for the delivery of the 

 seed and manure, which close again immedi- 

 ately the stud has passed. A further improve- 

 ment is by the adoption of projecting arms or 

 shovels, to draw the manure and grain to the 

 funnels, instead of taking the same up in cups 

 in the way adopted in other drills. 



The Messrs. Ransome give the following 

 sketch of the chief modern improvements made 

 in the drill, which have greatly added to its 

 usefulness, without having increased its cost. 



The drills usually made by the best makers 

 in England, are of several kinds ; but their de- 

 scription may be briefly comprehended under 

 three or four heads. 



1. The Common Lever Drill. This invaluable 



machine, which is the one in the most general 

 ! use, is adapted for drilling grain, on either level 

 grounds or ridges, and on all descriptions of 

 soil. These are, as we have stated in our pre- 

 vious description, furnished with independent 

 levers, by which the coulters are each readily 

 and separately made to avoid any rocks or ir- 

 regularities of the ground, and a " press steel- 

 yard," to force the coulters, in case of need, 

 into hard ground, with a varying degree of 

 pressure, according to the texture of the soil. 



These coulters can now be set so as to drill 

 the corn at any width, from 4 inches to a 

 greater distance ; they also, if required, readily 

 allow of the introduction of the horse-hoe ; 

 and from being placed, by another excellent 

 improvement, in double rows, they admit, when 

 at work, of large stones, &c., passing between 

 them, of a size that was not possible under the 

 old plan of placing the coulters in one line. 

 These are also, in the most complete drills, 

 furnished with a " swing steerage," by which 

 the drill-man keeps the rows at exact or even 

 distances from those which have been previ- 

 ously drilled in the centre of the ridge, or out 

 of the furrows, &c. The " corn-barrel " of this 

 drill is made to deliver from two pecks to 6 or 

 7 bushels or strikes per acre of any kind of 

 grain; and they have an additional barrel for 

 drilling turnips and mangel-wurzel, &c. And 

 again, these barrels, by a peculiarly simple, yet 

 excellent "regulator," are kept on unequal, 

 hilly ground, on the same level; so that the 

 grain is evenly delivered, in whatever situation 

 the drill may be placed. 



A " seed engine" is also sometimes added to 

 this drill, by which the grass-seeds and clover 

 are sown at the same time as the grain, and 

 each kind of seed, if required, separately ; by 

 which plan any quantity pey acre of the seeds 

 may be much more evenly distributed, than by 

 mixing them up together. For these seeds, 

 being of different sizes and weights, are in the 

 ordinary seed engines very apt to separate in. 

 the boxes ; and thus the brushes too oAen 

 deliver them in unequal proportions. 



The weight of these drills necessarily varies 

 with the number of coulters ; they are usually 

 from about 3 to 10 cwts., and are drawn, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, by either one, two, or three 

 horses ; and have, if required, slip axletrees, 

 with which, by merely adding to the number 

 of the coulters, &c., the drill is adapted to any 

 breadth of land. 



2. The next description of drill to which I 

 shall allude, is The Manure Drill. This drill is 

 formed very readily, by merely adding to the 

 common corn drill, an operation which any 

 husbandman can perform, " a manure box." 

 It is a simple yet accurately working appara- 

 tus for delivering the manure, which, in the 

 best drills, it does with great evenness, and in 

 quantities varying as " the slip " is placed, from 

 6 to 8 bushels per acre. In the best drills, also, 

 a very important improvement has been made 

 within the last few years, which consists in the 

 use of separate coulters for manure and 

 seed. The manure is now deposited according 

 to the mode preferred by the cultivator, not 

 only from 2 to 3 inches deeper in the ground 

 than the seed, but from 10 to 12 inches in ad- 

 2N 421 



