20 BULLETIN 814, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table XIX.^ — End-gate seeder. 



Width of cast. 



Number 



of 

 reports. 



Acres per day. 



Group limits. 



Average. 



Average. 



Acreage most often 

 reported. 



18 to 22 feet inclusive 



Feet. 

 20.2 

 25.8 



30.0 



34.9 

 39.0 



27 

 34 



103 



199 



■ 75 



39.1 

 44.0 



49.4 



52.1 

 59.1 



Scattering. 



23 to 27 feet inclusive 



Do. 





(40 (il reports). 

 {50 (18 reports). 

 [60(19 reports). 

 f40 (73 reports). 

 .{50 (S2 reports). 



33 to 37 feet inclusive 



38 to 42 feet inclusive 



\&0 (55 reports). 

 Scattering. 







The acres covered per day Increases with the width of cast but not 

 in proportion to it, those sowing the narrowest strips covering ahnost 

 2 acres per day per foot of width, while the largest ones cover only a 

 little over 1|- acres per day per foot of width. For the seeders in 

 most common use, those sowing strips from 30 to 35 feet wide, ap- 

 proxirnatel}^ 50 acres is an average day's work. However, there is a 

 considerable variation in the area covered by seeders with the same 

 width of cast. 



GRAIN DRILL. 



The drills reportecl vary in size from the small 5-tube machines 

 drawn by one horse, used in drilling winter wheat between the rows 

 of standing corn, to wide implements having 20 to 24 tubes. The dis- 

 tance between tubes varies from 4 to 8 inches, but on nearly one-half 

 of the machines they were 6 inches apart, and the 6 and 7 inch drills 

 include three-fourths of the total number reported. Over 90 per 

 cent of all the drills reported are disk drills. The average perform- 

 ance of disk drills with 16 tubes 6 inches apart, drawn by four horses, 

 is given in Table XX. There were not a sufficient number of reports 

 on any other unit to give a reliable avei'age. 



Table XX. — Gniin drill. 



Number 

 of tubes. 



Distance 



between 



tubes. 



Number of 

 horses. 



Number of 

 reports. 



Average 



acres per 



day. 



16 



Inches. 

 6 



4 



24 



14.9 



The figures show that one man and two horses, with an end-gate 

 seeder seeding a strip 35 feet wide, cover nearly three and one-half 

 times as much ground per day as do one man and four horses with a 

 16-tube disk drill. However, the broadcasted grain must be covered, 

 and to complete the operation the ground must be gone over with 

 either a spike-tooth or disk harrow in addition to the end-gate seeder. 



