DRILL-MACHINES. 



DRILL-MACHINES. 



vance c f it, so as to give the soil time to cover 

 the manure before the next coulters deposit the 

 seed; whereas, on the old plan of depositing 

 the seed and the fertilizer together down one 

 pipe, an evil was liable to arise when it was 

 used with some of the more powerful artificial 

 manures; the seed and the manure were too 

 close together, and the manure was not always 

 dropped in what is commonly its best position, 

 until r the seed. 



3. The third variety of drill which I shall no- 

 tice, is The Northumberland Frame Manure and 

 Turnip Ridging Drill. This excellent drill is 

 furnished with pressing rollers (one to each 

 coulter), which form the land into ridges and 

 the coulters. These deliver in separate 

 coulters, 1st, the manure; and 2dly, the seed; 

 and the drill is provided with a second roller, 

 which follows the coulters and closes the rows. 

 This machine drills two rows at a time 

 weighs only about 1 cwt. and one man and 

 a horse can easily drill from 8 to 10 acres per 

 day. 



Besides these three most commonly used 

 drills, there are several others such as the 

 Two Coulter Seed and Manure Lever Drill ; 

 this has a swing steerage, to which we have be- 

 fore alluded, and a slip axletree to vary the 

 distances of the ridges (for this valuable im- 

 plement a prize was awarded to Mr. Garret at 

 the Cambridge meeting). To this a set of hoes 

 is occasionally attached, furnished with inde- 

 pendent levers either for ridge-work or other- 

 wise. 



There are in England many other varieties 

 of drills, but they involve no particularly use- 

 ful principles, if we except the drop drills, the 

 chief object of which is to save the quantity 

 of manure. In these the seed or corn is mixed, 

 and deposited with the manure. 



From this brief enumeration the farmer will 

 see that the modern drill-makers have not ne- 

 glected their duty, in the adoption of every im- 

 provement calculated to simplify and render 

 more serviceable the common and the manure 

 drill ; and I am highly gratified to be able to 

 add, that there is now every prospect of their 

 skill and enterprise being rewarded by the cul- 

 tivators of our country ; for I find, from an 

 eminent maker, that the demand for manure 

 drills has within the last two years been greater 

 than ever was remembered before. 



The chief advantages of the use of the drill, 

 are the regular deposition of the seed at a 

 uniform regulated depth, from which arises a 

 considerable saving of seed (at least one-third) 

 and the facility afforded in cleaning the land 

 either by the hand or horse-hoe. The import- 

 ance of these results is, happily for our coun- 

 try, rapidly becoming generally understood 

 and the result of experiments which I witnessed 

 to a considerable extent, upon some of the poor- 

 est gravelly soils of Surrey, by Mr. Hewitt Da- 

 vis and others, convince me that, by the use 

 of this machine, combined with careful hoeing 

 and weeding the crops, a saving even of half 

 the usual quantity of seed now used by the 

 drill may be effected. And again, 1 cannot too 

 often urge upon the farmer of the upland soils 

 lar away trom supplies of manure, the use of 

 the manure drill, and those fertilizers expressly 

 422 



repared for its use ; since by these one ton of 

 nanure is sufficient for three acres And let 

 he farmer remember, that it is not only the 

 first cost of all manures which makes them 

 expensive, but the comparative labour saved 

 n their application, which must, also be taken 

 nto the account when the cultivator is esti- 

 mating their value. And further, let him re- 

 member that the best and richest farm compost 

 s likely to convey to his fields a multitude of 

 weeds, the cost of whose removal too rarely 

 'orms a portion of such comparative esti- 

 mates. 



The patents which have been taken out in 

 England, during the last half century, for drill 

 sloughs and improvements in sowing machines 

 ? orm a long list. 



The advantages derived from using drill 

 machines for sowing wheat and the other small 

 grains have been summed up by Mr. Binns, at 

 a meeting of an English agricultural society, 

 as follows : 



1. The seed is delivered with regularity. 



2. It is deposited at proper depth. 



3. The weeds, during the growth of plants, 

 are destroyed with great facility. 



4. The plants cultivated receive the undi- 

 vided benefit of the soil and manure, and have 

 not to maintain a constant struggle with 

 weeds. 



5. The land by the process of hoeing, is un- 

 dergoing preparations for another crop. 



5. The necessity of summer fallowing is 

 avoided. 



7. By admission of the sun and air between 

 the rows, a stronger and healthier plant is pro- 

 duced, and of course a heavier crop. 



8. By stirring the soil it is more susceptible 

 of benefit from the atmosphere, imbibing more 

 oxygen, and being both warmed and enriched 

 by the sun. 



9. The roots shoot freely in pulverized soil. 



10. By drilling, the farmer is enabled to have 

 heavier crops of beans and wheat on light 

 land. 



11. Clover and grass-seeds answer incom- 

 parably better in the pulverization produced 

 by hoeing, independent of the clearness from 

 xveeds. 



12. The drills give facility for depositing 

 smaller portions of manure with greater effect. 



" These advantages," says the editor of the 

 Cultivator, " are all self-evident to a good far- 

 mer; and it might have been added, as a thir- 

 teenth advantage, that drilling economizes seed, 

 though Mr. Binns rejects it, on the ground that, 

 if the plants are thin, they throw out side- 

 shoots, which produce imperfect grain, and ri- 

 pen unequally. In drill husbandry, Mr. Binns 

 affirms, fifty-six bushels of wheat per acre 

 have been raised on the light soils of Norfolk.'* 



It is believed by some that the plan of sow- 

 ing wheat by drill machines is a refinement in 

 agriculture which cannot be profitably adopted 

 in the United States, where the price of grain 

 is of late years much lower than in England. 

 The introduction of the practice will perhaps 

 be slow, but there cannot, we think, be a doubt 

 of its final general adoption in all the best cul- 

 tivated wheat-growing districts. The first ex- 

 pense of the machine is doubtless the princi 



