298 
AMERICAN A»:RlCEETTJRIST. 
[August, 
it will be found difficult to adjust the shaft in each 
so that they will fit in all respects when they are put 
together. We think a better plan is, to pour the 
metal into the lower half-box while it is bolted to 
the frame where it is to be used, as this is the easi- 
thin, it is a good plan to form, with putty, a tun¬ 
nel-shaped place where the melted metal is to' en¬ 
ter, so that it can be poured very rapidly. If a' 
proper ladle is not at hand, use an old frying-pan, 
though it will not hurt a new one. If a stove or fur¬ 
Fig. 1.— THE “champion” grain drill. 
est way to get it exactly “ in line ” with the other 
bearing or bearings on the same shaft. After the 
lower half of one or more boxes is filled, remove 
the shaft and trim off the upper surface of the new 
metal; then replace the shaft, and put on the up¬ 
per half-box, with a thin strip of pasteboard or 
wood on each side of the shaft between the two 
half-boxes, and screw the upper half down firm 
upon these strips. Then, after stopping the ends, 
it may be filled through the oil-hole (to be after¬ 
ward punched or bored out), or through other holes 
made for the purpose, or it may be poured at the 
end of the box on top of the shaft, by making a lit¬ 
tle tunnel-shaped place of putty to guide the metal 
to its place. Indeed, we seldom fill boxes without 
using putty or clay to stop small openings where 
the metal might leak out. Don’t forget the wood¬ 
en plug in the oil-holes if they are not used to pour 
through. In place of the strips of pasteboard or 
wood, commonly used between the two parts of the 
box, I prefer to put in several layers of thick paper, 
and then when the bearing wears a little loose, one 
or more layers of paper may be taken out, aud the 
upper half screwed down, making it as snug as new. 
“Very good Babbitt Metal is made by melting to¬ 
gether 9 or 10 parts, by weight, of Lead with one 
part of Antimony. Lead is cheaper than tin, and 
many farmers have scraps of old lead lying about 
r.hat might thus be utilized. Persons living near a 
printing office can often get worn-out type for 10 or 
.2 cents per lb., which is most excellent Babbitt 
Metal. I may add what seems not generally known, 
nace is not convenient, lay three bricks or stones on 
the ground a few inches apart, and set the ladle on 
them and build a fire below, with dry chips, etc.” 
Fig. 2. 
FARMERS FRIEND ” GRAIN DRILL. 
that wooden boxes may be lined in this way, even 
easier than iron boxes, aud thus farmers may often 
replace broken iron boxes with wooden ones, or 
build, some kinds of machinery themselves, and 
make boxes in this manner as good as the best. 
“11, in any case, the space for the metal is quite 
About Grain Drills. 
Improvements come about slowly, but the regu¬ 
lar planting of wheat by means of a drill possesses 
so many advantages over broadcast sowing, that 
farmers adopt it at once, wherever the land is in suit¬ 
able condition. The writer’s experience in a grain 
country has been in one originally heavily timber¬ 
ed, where the old methods was, to sow wheat among 
the stumps until time and decay allowed of 
the easy removal of these obstacles. Farm¬ 
ers in such a country are on the lookout for 
economical methods, as they have to compete 
in their grain growing with their brethren 
on the easily worked prairie lands. So 
soon as it was shown that the use of a Drill 
made an important saving of seed, the fields 
were cleared and put into condition to allow 
of its use much earlier than formerly, and 
wherever practicable the Stump Puller, anti¬ 
cipated the natural process of clearing the 
stumps. But it is not merely in the saving of 
seed that the Drill shows its value ; the even 
sowing at the desired depth, and proper covering, 
are stroug points in its favor. Recently our farm¬ 
ers have learned that cultivating—a very indefinite 
term for keeping clear of weeds—will pay in the 
wheat field, and there is now nothing of greater pro¬ 
mise to our grain-growers than 
this one of stirring the soil be¬ 
tween the rows of wheat and kill¬ 
ing the weeds that retard its 
growth. Of course cultivating is 
only possible where tbegrain is in 
regular rows, and regular rows 
are only possible when the grain 
is sown by a Drill—an interesting 
illustration of the inter-depend¬ 
ence of inventions. Had there 
been no grain Drill there would 
have been no Wheat Hoe, and 
the invention of the Wheat Hoe, 
or cultivator, has on the other 
hand greatly enhanced the value 
of the Drill. The grain Drill is 
merely a seed-sower upon a large 
scale. A box contains the seed, which is delivered 
by tubes—usually eight—at the proper distance 
apart for the drills. The difference in the various 
styles consists in the arrangements for opening the 
soil, for covering the drills, and for the regular sup¬ 
ply of the seed. Modern drills have an attachment 
for sowing concentrated fertilizers with the grain,'• 
and some are so constructed that they may bes 
converted into Corn-Planters, and may be adapted* 
to sow grass seed. We give here engraVihgs of two 1 
of the popular kinds of Drill now in use. Figure 1 ’ 
shows the “Champion Grain Drill,” made a£<3>Ivego, ■ 
N. Y., for which the makers find an increasSijUde- 
mand. They claim for this machine that its fee ’tbrs - 
are so constructed as to deliver an exact amount Of 
grain, that needed changes can be made without 
loss of time, and that the arrangement for lifting 
the hoes out of the ground or stopping the feeders, 
are worked with the greatest ease. This Drill has 
an arrangement for so wiug grass seed ; it has also a 
corn-planting attachment, which deposits the eoi'rr m 
two rows, 42 inches apart, with the kernels at dis¬ 
tances of 6,12, or 18 inches, as maybe desired. The: 
“Champion Grain Drill” was one of the itnple- 
ments that received a medal at the great trial 
of drills made during the Centennial Exhibition. 
Another prize Drill at the Centennial was the 
“Farmers Friend,” made at Dayton, 0., shown in 
figure 2. An engraving of its exterior is an unsatis¬ 
factory matter of illustrating a grain drill, as the' 
important portion, the one which a judge of ma ¬ 
chinery would examine first— i. e., the feeding por¬ 
tion—is hidden from sight. The makers of this 
Drill also claim great perfection for its feeding 
device, as well as for its “ Cone Geariug,” by 
which the distribution of the seed is regulated. As 
will be seen by the engraving of this device in 
figure 3, the several wheels or gears, regulatings t-Bfo 
movement, are bolted to a cone. A cog-wheel! 
on the main shaft is moved by a lever to engage: 
with every wheel of the cone which Will cause' 
the delivery of the desired quantity of seed. As- 
with other first-class drills, this is made to sow 
fertilizers, and has an attachment for seeding 
grass. Not content with the award at the Ce-n-- 
tennial, the makers competed at the Paris Exposi¬ 
tion of 1878, at which this Drill received medals, as 
it did in the same year from the Agricultural So¬ 
ciety of Scotland. Knowing that the “Farmers 
Friend ” was in use by a farmer'of our acquaintance, 
we asked his opinion of it. Thw reply, not a very 
long one—“ I consider it a first-class machine in all 
respects ”—is, to those who know the writer, quite 
as expressive and says as much as would be con¬ 
veyed in a long letter. Indeed, those few words 
from an intelligent farmer are to some persons 
a more valuable testimonial than many medals. 
Fall Flowing.— The better the preparation of 
the ground the better the crop. The high average 
yield of the English farms is no doubt largely due 
to the thorough preparation of the ground before 
seeding. Our climate is superior to that of Eng 
land for wheat growing; yet a yield of 64 bushels 
per acre is not at all infrequent among good farm¬ 
ers there, while here 40 bushels per acre is an un¬ 
usual yield. Two plowings, several harrowings Unci' 
in many cases rolling or crushing ; and the excel¬ 
lent preparation of the soil by a previous root crop 
must have a much better effect upon the soil, than 
one plowing, very poorly done because of the hard¬ 
ness and dryness of our soil in midsummer, and 
very imperfect harrowing. It might be well for us 
to lay out more labor on our wheat crop, and so 
prepare the ground better, and raise our average 
from 12 to at least 20 bushels per acre. The dif¬ 
ference in the amount of wheat at harvest would 
pay for a good deal of extra work in plowing, etc., 
and yet leave a profit; besides, the soil would not 
forget the generous treatment in one year nor two. 
