Construction and Testing of Drills. 47 



simple calculation in proportion if so much land 

 takes so much seed, how much will so much land 

 take ? And round went the drill, and the little seed 

 lobes were manipulated with red-hot iron and shellac 

 until the required proportion had been attained. 



This circuitous and vexatious means to 

 is now fast fading into a reminiscence. The 

 method deserves more attention as being more 

 tific and, at the same time, more correct. The mini 

 of revolutions of wheels of the different diameters 

 in a bigha being obtained, and the small seed wheels 

 being properly adjusted to throw equally and, at the 

 same time, a certain amount per bigha ; the calcula- 

 tion is again made as to how much seed should be 

 thrown in fifty revolutions to obtain the desired 

 average per bigha ; all becomes plain sailing then. 

 The drills are all collected in the factory compound, 

 and the testing begins. A level plank is placed 

 under the drill to be tested, which has all its shares 

 put in as if ready for sowing ; small bags of indigo 

 cloth are then attached to each tube, one spoke of 

 the wheel is marked with chalk to certify each revolu- 

 tion, and round goes the wheel by hand, the revolv- 

 ing agent being a small stick inserted between the 

 spokes and firmly grasped in both hands. On the 

 completion of the fifty revolutions, the little bags are 

 opened out, and the contents of each bag measured 



