412 



SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part II. 



is deposited in a deep gutter made by a coulter (c-) which goes before ; this manure is 

 covered by a pronged coulter (d) which follows the other j next comes the coulter 



which forms the gutter for the seed (e). The 

 seed is thus deposited about one inch above the 

 manure. One roller of the concave kind goes 

 before the machine, and another light one of the 

 common kind follows after it : or, without at- 

 tached rollers, the drill may be affixed to one side 

 of the common roller behind, which roller may 

 prepare one drill and cover the seed sown on 

 another each course. 



2691. The dnll roller is so contrived as to form regular small incisions or drills in the 

 ground, at proper depths for the seed. It is merely a common roller, mostly of iron, 

 about seven feet long, about which are put cutting-wheels of cast iron, that turn round 

 the common cylinder, each independently of the others, which cylinder generally weighs 

 about a ton. It is drawn by three or four horses abreast, and driven by a man elevated 

 behind them ; the cutting- wheels, being movable, may be fixed at any distance, by means 

 of washers ; but the most common and favourite distance is four to six inches. It is 

 said to have been found effectually productive of the principal benefits which have been 

 derived from the operation of drill ploughs, or the practice of dibbling and setting the 

 corn by hand, with the great advantage of saving both time and expense ; as by the use 

 of this simple machine, one man may sow and cover five or six acres of corn in one day, 

 using for the purpose three horses, on account of its weight. It was at first chiefly used 

 on clover or other grass leys on the first ploughing, but may be as properly employed on 

 land which has been three or four times ploughed. The mode of working it is this : 

 " A clover ley or other ground being ploughed, which the cultivator intends for 

 setting or dibbling with wheat, the roller is drawn across the furrows, and cuts 

 the whole field into little drills, four inches asunder ; the seed is then sown broad- 

 cast in the common quantity, and the land bush-harrowed ; by which means the 

 seed is deposited at one equal depth, as in drilling, and that depth a better one than in 

 setting, and the crop rises free from the furrow-seams, which are the ill effects of common 

 broadcast sowing, at least on a ley ploughed once." To us this machine, so much 

 praised by some writers, seems merely an ingenious mode of increasing the expenses of 

 culture. By the use of a plough, such as Small's, that will cut a square furrow, no machine 

 of this sort can possibly become necessary. The land when ploughed will be left in 

 little drills, and being sown broadcast, the seed will come up as if it had been drill - 

 rolled or ribbed. It is admitted, however, that the pressure of the roller may be 

 useful in soft lands, and may, possibly, keep down tJie wire-worm. For this purpose 

 we have the pressing plough. (27 1 5. ) 



2692. The drill-watering machine (Jig. 348.) is an implement of recent invention by 

 John Young, a surgeon, in Edinburgh. It is used for watering turnips and other drill 

 crops in dry seasons ; and promises to be a valuable assistant to the amateur agricul- 

 turist, in dry seasons or situations, or where it is an important object to secure a crop. 

 It has been much approved of by the Highland Society of Scotland and the Dalkeith 



