30 ONION-RAISING. 



planters on the "agitator" principle. This agitator is a 



finger of iron in the 



'seed- box which projects 



just over the orifice from 



which the seed drops, 



and, by a motion given 



it by the revolving of 



the wheel, keeps the 



„^ ^_ _^^_ — .^^-^_ seed continually stirred, 



-^=«^S*^^^:;^ *«***"^ ^jj^ tjjyg prevents its 



clogging, — a trouble to every gardener when planting such 

 seed as beet and parsnip. Were I called upon to recom- 

 mend a seed-sower for general work, it would be the Mat- 

 thews : all in the market have more or less of good qualities, 

 but I have found that the Matthews combines as many as 

 any other one. 



In these machines, the seed falls through holes of various 

 sizes, made either in little slides of tin, or in a movable circu- 

 lar plate of iron ; different slides being substituted as the seed 

 to be sown is larger or smaller, or the quantity to be planted 

 is greater or less. Farmers will often find it for their interest 

 to enlarge or diminish the size of these holes. The holes in 

 the tin of the Danvers Sower, to give a liberal sowing of 

 about four and a half pounds to the acre, should be large 

 enough to drop ten to fourteen onion-seed to each snap. 

 By putting the hand under, and counting the seed which 

 falls in a dozen snappings of the machine, a reliable average 

 can be ascertained. As the size of onion-seed often varies, 

 no particular size of hole can be relied upon : it must be 

 tested for each season. Another convenient test is to 

 trundle the machine over the barn-floor, or a newspaper 

 spread and secured in the field, and observe how thickly 



