Construction and Testing of Drills, 45 



of holes in a /-foot diameter seed-wheel would 

 be 16. 



It now only remains to describe the shaft. This 

 is a thin piece of wood 9 feet long by 2 inches thick, 

 sloping, when the drill rests upon the ground, from 

 4 feet from ground at point to 9 inches where it joins 

 the platform ; here it is dovetailed in, and secured on 

 either side by strong stanchions of wood or iron, the 

 former for preference The object of giving the oblique 

 direction from point of shaft to platform of drill is 

 in order that the drill may adapt itself to bullocks, who 

 pull by means of a yoke. Bullocks being of all sizes, 

 slots are made in the outer end of the shaft, so that 

 thus the drill is heightened or lowered to suit the size 

 of animal employed ; it being of the last importance 

 that the shares should be kept at an uniform depth so 

 as not to endanger the germination of the seed. 



Now that I have described the construction of 

 this primitive implement, I will proceed to see how 

 it is to be tested for sowing the indigo. I would 

 here note that I have described what is known as 

 the eight-shared drill. There are, however, many 

 sizes, ranging from the four-shared to the twenty- 

 shared, pulled by either single or double pairs of 

 cattle. I have merely selected the above as what I 

 consider the most useful size ; and I may add that 

 all factory-made drills are of similar build. 



