.)•) 



l-.'.lj 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



347 





1Ul ,,rnVfU broadcast §owing machine, for 



mh mm *mi Grass f* The frame is on three 



*J^j*. tlu t . v ich folds into three by two joints, 



*^^ \ o, eet long, and iron Ian- tailed piniuns are sub- 



for the brusbHL An index meter tells the 

 ber of revolutions. Garrett shows a broadcas 

 drill with a partition in the trough, for Rye-grai 

 m d Clever to be sown separately— the distributor- being 



and brush . We observed also some examples 



tee driller attached to the plough, to sow on the pre- 



funow. 



cerh 



sowing, 



t content with the drop-drill mode of 



h&\ tlKuJu it desirable to obtain a machine 



Ar performing the identical operations involved in the 

 , m Trm of dibbling. Not satisfied with the revolving- 



%&&< with ap-doors of llomsby, the valves of Garrett, 

 tbc tutnnlers of Uansome, and other inventions, most 

 <rf which (t-Ncepting, perhaps, the last-mentioned) 

 drop loo much seed and manure together in each bunch; 

 tin want an implement that shall make the round 

 bolee, and leave a kernel or two in each, with less 

 labour and lime, and greater precision, than by men 

 with pairs of dibbling irons, followed by slippery and 

 froodlrnr b<>; lingers. Accordingly, the manufacturers 

 have devi-« d et in< B for the purpose, some for manual, 

 some for boi.--j.uwer; some light as playthings, other 

 sive with timber and cast-iron ; and most of them 

 too complicated and delicate in detail to be understood 



at a glace- 



The tirst Dibblino Machine that struck our 

 notice was the Patent Walking Dibble, invented by 

 R. H. Kieholls, Elizabeth-street, Eaton- square, London; 

 to tin ye, at first sight, appearing to be a square-set, 

 light, iron framing, all levers and connecting bars, with 

 four long dibblers at one end, two handles at the other, 

 and a balance weight in the middle ; standing on four 

 legs, the two in front terminating in spikes, and the 

 hind legs resting on feet. By alternately lifting and 

 bearing on the two handles behind, the implement 

 •advances at a slow gallop ; the dibblers between the 

 two front legs making holes as they fail, and leaving 

 seeds in them as they rise. The dibble points are solid, 

 and sli< up into brass sockets to let the grain drop out. 



fiuredly ingenious and we hope the workman, 



It is 



taking counsel of his muscles, will not condemn it to 

 inglorious rest. 



The next was a patent seed-dibbler, invented by J. 

 Eaton, of Woodford, near Thrapston, Northamptonshire. 

 It consists of a long wooden frame, upon four wheels, 

 the front wheels being made for steering ; but whether 

 it is for ahorse to draw or men to push, we have not yet 

 determined. The hind wheels are drums, each having 

 four studs on its inner side, winch lift and let fall a 

 lever frame, to which are suspended two parallel rows 

 of dibblers — six in each row in the direction of the 

 movement of the machine. The ends of the dibblers 

 are formed like two spoons set close to each other, one- 

 half sliding up to let the seed escape. A lever is pro- 

 vided for raising the jum ping-frame out of work. The 

 machine is about 10 ieet in length. We are unable to 

 detail any of its good or bad qualities. 



Saundrr and Newberry's (of Norton, Oxfordshire), 

 latent Dibbling Machine, is one of those ponderous and 

 expensive-looking engines to which the farmer has gene- 

 rally a fixed aversion ; but this, we believe, has the 

 credit of having performed its work well for many years. 

 A strong square name of wood, on wooden wheels, and 

 drawn by shafts, carries one, two, three, four, or five 

 large circular dibble wheels, which have dibbles pro- 

 jectingfrom their circumference, and intricate mechanism 

 inside for depositing the seed. The dibblers are made 

 m two halves, one-half of each being raised by an 

 inclined curve, as the dibbling-wheel revolves in order 

 to emit the seeds. There is one hopper to each wheel, 

 the seed entering the wheel near its centre. The seed, 

 delivered in a continuous now by a drill wheel, falls into 

 cells or the spaces between large teeth, which catch it 

 in pretty equal quantities as they revolve. From these 

 the seeds pass in separate compartments to each dibbler. 

 The earth is cleaned from the dibble-wheels by revolving 

 scrapers of a peculiar shape, each having three dovetail 

 blades { and as they are fixed in bearings at right angles 

 to the dibble-wheels, they engage with the dibbles and 

 are turned by them, in their rotation cutting out the- 

 soil clogging the wheels. 



The " Improved Patent Horse Seed Dibbler," of C. 

 Lainpitt, ot Neithrop, near Banbury, is evidently an 

 alteration or improvement of Newberry's. As in the 

 last machine, there are four iron box-wheels on an axle, 

 ™th mechanism inside. The dibblers do not consist of 

 halves like spoons, one sliding against the other, but are 

 made .whole, of the requisite conical form. A hollow 

 box, called a « tumbril," occupies the inside of the 

 amble, and by protruding at the back of the dibble, just 

 as it leaves the hole, lets the seed out. Instead of 



barrel and chains which raise them out ot work,a brt 

 assists in lowering them to the ground. I. A. C. 



ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DRILL 

 CULTIVATION OF BEANS INTO BELGIUM. 



[Translated from the French of the Baron de Laf.»ntaine.] 



It has often been said, and said with troth, that there 

 is nothing absolute in agriculture. Theory ought 

 necessarily to have general laws ; but it belongs to 

 practice to select those which are capable of r* iving 

 an advantageous application. It is thus that the culti- 

 vation oi the Bean, with a view to the production of 

 seed, rather than as a green crop, so extolled in England, 

 is not generally adopted by ourselves in Belgium, because 

 all the circumstances of our soil and climate do not offer 

 a complete correspondence with those in England, and 

 consequently the Bean crop in Belgium is not uniformly 

 a lucrative one. On this account, we shall only address 

 ourselves on this occasion to those farmers in parts of 

 the country where the Bean is successfully cultivated as 

 a green crop, and often grown with Vetches and Peas. 

 It is a question whether in these localities the drill 

 culture of Beans, as producing the greatest amount of 

 seed, would not be preferable to the broadcast system, 

 so long pursued in them ; and it is to this point that we 

 wish particularly to direct the attention of those farmers 

 by means of direct experiment. Sir John Sinclair 

 reports, in his treatise on practical agriculture, an expe- 

 riment made on three-hit lis of an English acre, of which 

 one-half was sown broadcast, and the other half in drills. 

 It was found that, independently of the economy of 

 the seed sown, the produce of the crop was greater In 

 the drilled portion than in the broadcast, in the propor- 

 tion of 11 to 9. The same held being sown with Barley 

 in the following year, the crop was still more consider- 

 able in the drill^l part, in the proportion of 34 to 27. 

 This trial was made about 30 years ago, and from the 

 publicity given to it, has much contributed to the esta- 

 blishment of that system in England. The adoption of 

 drill cultivation, in general, belongs to a period that is 

 last approaching. If with our neighbours in Great 

 Britain its advantages are no longer disputed, we have 

 the satisfaction also to know that with our progressive 

 tanners in Belgium a lively prejudice exists at the present 

 time in its favour. It is even probable that in due time 

 the application of this method will become the common 

 rule. Can we indeed doubt that it will be so, when we 

 reflect that broadcast sowing is a simple imitation of 

 the procedure of nature, while the drill system con- 

 stitutes its perfection ? In reference to the origin of 

 this improved system, it may be remarked, that if the 

 facility offered by it in the cultivation of certain plants, 

 has been the original spontaneous cause of its adoption, 

 the reasonable desire so long felt to arrive at the 

 suppression of fallows has a tended strongly to its 



establishment. 



It is not repose, strictly so called, that we wish to 

 give the soil, but an increase of fertility ^by the dif- 

 ferent manipulations facilitating the successive dis- 

 integration of its molecules, and tending to the 

 destruction of weeds. The drill cultivation of many 

 kinds of plants known to be less exhausting, has been 

 considered as a real fallowing in this sense, in con- 

 equence of the different preparations such system 

 requires, without the deficiency Which a fallow occasions 

 in the general account of the farm, and in that pro- 

 duction of manure which root crops in the other case so 

 much promote. These truths, indeed, are well known, 

 and scarcely require to be stated ; but it is always well 

 to repeat them, for the purpose of directing their ap- 

 plication in a rational way ; for it is almost inconceivable 

 how the farmers in certain districts, unhappily still 

 numerous in our country, can continue at the present 

 day to sow Beet, Carrots, Turnips, and Beans broadcast. 

 These crops replace fallows ; but if we do not give them 

 all the preparation they require, that is to say horse- 

 hoeing, proper and uniform aeration, by means of placing 

 in rows, earthing up, &c, how can we wonder at the 

 disappointment of the farmers $ Is it, under such circum- 

 stances, surprising that the produce of land under grain 

 crops is in certain localities not so considerable as 

 when the pretended repose of the land in fallow had 

 been scrupulously observed ? The rigorous deductions 

 we ought to make from this very simple con- 

 sideration, should induce farmers to multiply the 

 modes of cultivation which fallowing affords us, 



its advantages without its inconveniences. 



Beans under such conditions can be i< idea as a 

 cleansing crop, i reply tliat they cannot, if we persist 

 in the broadcast system ol sowing them ; but that they 

 may be regarded in that light, if we adopt tue drill 



cultivation. 



We have thought it right to make a trial of the 

 two systems previously to recommending either 

 of them ; not that we had any doubt on the sub- 

 ject, inasmuch as the results obtained in England on 

 soils analogous to those of Hesbaye, where our own 

 experiments have been made, were sunHcient of them- 

 selves to establish our conviction, but because there are 

 many truths in agriculture which can only be propa- 

 gated by the evidence of actual experiment ; or rather 

 when reasons art based on indisputable facts occur- 

 ring in a known locality, or on sods similar in every 

 respect to those puatswed by the farmers, who 

 require to be convinced before they proceed to action. 

 This caution on their part ought not to surprise 

 us. The farmer is so often led into error by 

 advice being given to him, without due regard being had 

 to the difference of soil and climate, and without con- 

 sideration of the demands of the market tor his produce, 

 that we may regard this very caution of his as 111 some 

 degree a proof of practical wisdom. We will now slate 

 briefly a detail of the experiments in question. The 

 Held selected for trial was deeply ploughed at the end of 

 the year. In spring it w as divided into three j arts, on 

 two of which a good supply of n nure was lightly 

 ploughed in. At the time of sowing, one ot th | >r lions 

 was sown broadcast in the usual manner ; the or in 



retaining 



The drill husbandry of Beans is one of this number : 

 amelioration of the soil, destruction of weeds, 

 increase of crops, and diminution of the chances of 

 failure, are the results of this method. Are such, it 

 may be asked, the results of the broadcast system I 

 Assuredly, it produces neither amelioration in the soil, 

 increased amount of crop, or any of the advantages 

 just specified*} neither does it attain, either uniformly 



ntermg the wheel near its centre, the seed here passes or completely, the object generally assigned to Bean 

 mm it as close to the circumference as possible. Each cultivation, namely, that of a cleansing crop. To merit 



dibbhng point has a funnel converging from it towards 

 the inside of the wheel ; these, in descending, pass the 

 leeding-roller of the small hopper ; and as the feed-roller 

 and funnels conducting the seed into the tumbrils 

 mt>ve in the same direction, and 



both 



. . the seed has to fall 



»o ^ short a distance, a great degree of regularity is 



An eccentric motion closes the tumbrils as 



Obtained. 



the dibbles approach the ground, thus preventing their 

 being choked with dirt. The revolving scrapers are 

 worked by a motion independently of the dibbles, by 

 winch the wear of both scrapers and dibbles is 





vented. Th 



pre- 



wheels, of course, are of considerable 

 weight j a n d Wm i e a toothed-wheel and pinion work the 



that character it ought to effect the complete destruction 

 of weeds. Now this case never occurs under the broad- 

 cast plan of sowing ; for a great number of plants, 

 especially the Sow -Thistle, obstruct, and, by their repro- 

 duction, deteriorate the subsequent crop. We may 

 remark, that we are here speaking of circumstances 

 attending Bean cultivation, when entirely successful, 

 under the system in question. But what happens 

 when the crop is short, or altogether a failure, a 

 result which occurs at least five times in ten years? 

 in such case we have to wait for the rotation 

 of a root-crop to repair the evil caused by the 

 practice of a vicious system. If it be asked, whether 



drills, in the same manner as in Potato planting, namely, 

 by placing the s< I in every other furrow and covering 

 it by means of the plough — a plan it was thought best 

 to adopt as being the si m pest that presents itseli to the 

 farmer who is not in possession ol improved implements. 

 The remaining pal! ot the held on which no manure had 

 been applied, was formed in high ridges, according 

 to the Scotch method described by Low ; and 

 the Beans being sown in the hollows between the 

 ridg«s, at a distance of about J 1 English inches ; the 

 manure was placed upon the seed, and then covered in 

 by a second plough, which passed through the middle 

 of the ridges. In this manner the formation of the 

 ridges, the sowing of the Beans, and the placing and 

 covering in of the manure, were executed at one and 

 the same time. It is truly to be regretted that improve- 

 ment in cultivation requires in almost every case the* 

 employment of new implements, and consequently an 

 outlay of capital, which, although repaid by increase of 

 produce and economy of labour, is one of the causes of 

 the repugnance lelt by farmers at any innovations on 

 old practices. The perfect and easy sowing on ridges 

 in this case would have required the employment ot a 

 plough with a drill and double mould-board ; but in 

 order to confine the trial of this method within the 

 ordinary limits of possibility, without incurring iresh 

 expense, I made use of the ordinary plough, uotwith- 

 standing the difficulty of the good execution of work like 

 that in question, particularly when the precaution is not 

 taken oi inclining the plough from the side opposite the 

 mould-board, when covering in the furrows. The sowing 

 of this third portion was executed by hand. A lew days 

 before the Beans came up, the whole of the three divi- 

 sions of the field were equally harrowed. As soon as 

 the plants were 4 inches out of the ground, hoeing was 

 commenced, and was always executed in the same man- 

 ner in the two drilled secuonsof the held. This opera- 

 tion ought to be repeated three or four times, with an 

 interval of a few days between each, and always in a 

 different direction ; that is to say, taking care to turn 

 the soil back to the stems of the plants, when, by a pre- 

 vious hoeing, it had been turned up in the middle of 

 the interval between the rows. The implement indis- 

 pensable for the good execution of these operations, is 

 the horse-hoe of M. Omalius, with transposable shares. 

 It works with the greatest facility, and earths up or 

 exposes the plants at pleasure, according to the arrange- 

 ment of the shares. The last earthing up, which is 

 effected by a skim-hoe, adapted to this implement, rtight 

 to be executed before the first flowers of the Bean 

 make their appearance, as the passage of the horse or 

 implement might easily brush them away from the 

 plant Those weeds between the rows which have 

 escaped the hoe may be removed by the hand. The extra- 

 ordinary development of the stems and shoots soon 

 raises the plant to a foot in height, the ground becoming 

 covered in a short time with a thick shade, which main- 

 tains it in a state of suitable humidity during the re- 

 mainder of the season. The reaping should be effected by 

 the sickle, in order tliat the work may proceed row by 

 row ; as the employment of the scythe is rendered diffi- 

 cult, on account of the ridges. 



results obtained from the respective crops on the three 

 divisions of the land submitted to trial : 



bu»h. quarts, 



I. The first, sown broadcast, gave 

 an ordinary return, but one 

 which may be regarded as very 

 satisfactory tor the locality of : 

 He^ase 25 19 per English acre. 



II. The second, sown in rows, as in 

 Potato .planting 27 17 do. do. 



III. The third, drilled on ridges ... 23 SO do. do. 



We must add to each of the two last results, about 

 I ■ bushel, on account of the saving in Bang only half 

 the quantity of seed for sowing. The amount in weight 

 of the dry stalks is represented by the following figures: 



1. Sown broadcast -~ ' *** f j .hI* 



2. 8 >w„ in ru»i ■** cmt ** \zl' 



8. Drilled 00 ridges l: , cw t. 35 .fcs. 



It follows from these results, that the Beans sown in 

 drills on ridges have an undisputed superiority in the 



The following are the 



