544 



Report on the Exhibition of Implements 



servedly obtained for their implements the prizes appropriated 

 to their respective classes. These improvements are not of a 

 showy kind, and would be overlooked by a casual observer, 

 but they materially add to the precision with which the seed is 

 deposited, and therefore to the value of a drill. Mr. Hornsby's 

 improved mode of regulating the feed is so fully described by 

 the judges, that any additional remarks would be superfluous; 

 but of Mr. Garrett's parallel steerage it may be as well to men- 

 tion that it is especially applicable to stetch work where the 

 stetches or lands are narrow. Where, for instance, the stetches 

 just require a single bout of the drill, one wheel- is always in the 

 furrow, and the parallel steerage not only enables the drillman 

 to start the coulters exactly in their right places, but keeps them 

 true to their position as respects the crown of the land, without 

 any attention on his part, until the steerage is again called into 

 action when the horses turn at the end of the field. The cause 

 of the superiority possessed by the parallel over the ordinary swing 

 steerage is, that in a drill made on the latter principle the coulters 

 when acted upon by the steerage describe part of a circle, and 

 have a natural tendency to fall to the centre, which is the lowest 

 point. They therefore lie heavy on the hands of the attendant 

 whenever removed from this position, i. e., whenever the steerage 

 is in action. The parallel steerage, on the other hand, moves the 

 coulters in a direct line, so that they have no tendency to any 

 particular point, and remain where they are placed. For stetch 

 work, therefore, this steerage is very superior to anything that 

 has hitherto been brought out. For broad flat work, the fore- 

 carriage steerage previously in use by the Messrs. Garrett, is 

 capable of somewhat greater accuracy ; but most farmers would 

 be satisfied with the performance of the drill with parallel steer- 

 age, especially when they knew that it was cheaper than the fore- 

 carriage steerage, and required one man less to work it. 



In the Implement Report of last year an appeal was made to 

 the implement makers to supply a cheap and simple corn-drill 

 for the use of small farmers. This appeal has been well re- 

 sponded to by Mr. Busby, who brought out at Norwich a drill, 

 on an entirely new principle, the invention of the Rev. W. 

 Wharton, of Barningham, near Greta Bridge, Yorkshire. The 

 working of this drill was, to use the Judge's own words, "quite 

 astonishing, as there was nothing in its appearance to recommend 

 it." It is well known to those who farm strong land, that it is 

 frequently very difficult to make the coulters of an ordinary drill 

 enter the land to a sufficient depth to deposit the seed out of 

 harm's way; and even where a pressbar is able to effect the 

 purpose, the draught of the drill is so much increased that an 

 additional horse is required at a time when the land will ill bear 



