SOWING-MACHINES. 
in the seed was attached behind. He also in- 
vented a turnip-drill somewhat similar to the 
other in general arrangement, but of a lighter 
construction. The feeding-spout was so ar- 
| ranged as to carry one-half of the seed backwards 
after the earth had fallen into the channel; a 
harrow was pinned to the beam,—and by this 
arrangement, one-half of the seed would spring 
up sooner than the other, and so part of it escape 
the turnip-fly. When desirable to turn the ma- 
chine, the harrow was to be lifted and the feed- 
ing would stop. The manner of delivering the 
seeds to the funnels in both the above drills was 
by notched barrels; and Tull was the first who 
used cavities in the surfaces of solid cylinders 
for the feeding.” About the year 1776, Sir John 
Anstruther, near Edinburgh, invented a one- 
horse double drill-plough, of simple construction, 
for sowing two furrows at a time, with the 
draught-horse walking between them, so that 
_ the fine soil was not injured by the animal’s feet ; 
and, after eight years successful trial of it, he 
introduced it to the notice of the Bath and West 
of England Society. During the next ten years, 
ten patented machines were invented by distin- 
| guished mechanicians or agriculturists for sow- 
ing grain or for sowing and harrowing it, and two 
for depositing manure with the seed ; and among 
these, in 1788, was a drilling and ploughing ma- 
chine, invented by James Cooke, a clergyman of 
Heaton-Norris in Lancashire,—improved, two 
years afterwards, by Henry Baldwin, a farmer of 
Mendham in Norfolk,—and comprising princi- 
ples of construction which have been more or 
less adopted in some of the best drill-machines 
of the most recent years. The patents taken out 
for drill-ploughs, sowing-machines, and improve- 
ments in drills, since the commencement of the 
present century, have been very numerous ; and 
the competition in the manufacture of drill-ma- 
chines among all the good and extensive agricul- 
tural implement makers of the present day, is 
keen and comprehensive, and brings as great a 
profusion and variety into the market as the 
most fastidious farmer could well desire. 
tion of most drill-machines, are stated as follows 
by Professor Low :—“ A frame-work is placed 
upon two wheels; and upon this is an oblong 
box for containing seeds. From the axle of the 
wheels motion is communicated to a spindle or 
axle, which passes horizontally through the lower 
part of the box; and upon thisaxle may be fixed, 
at the distances required, a series of grooved or 
fluted cylinders. There are apertures formed 
near the bottom of the box, and as each cylinder 
revolves amongst the seeds, a certain portion of 
them is collected in the grooves at each revolu- 
tion, and is carried round inthe grooves and falls 
through these apertures. By making the grooves 
larger or smaller, so as to contain a larger or 
smaller quantity of seeds, or by making the aper- 
tures of the seed-box larger or smaller, so as to 
‘seeds intended to be sown. 
281 
allow a larger or smaller quantity of seeds to pass . 
through, the machine can be made to sow the 
seeds more or less thick, as may be required. 
The seeds, after passing through the apertures, 
fall into tubes or funnels, through which they 
are conveyed tothe ground. Immediately before 
the lower part of each funnel is a sharp coulter 
of iron, which encloses the lower part of the tube, 
and makes a rut in the ground into which the 
seeds fall. By these means they are sown in the 
quantity required and at the depth to which we 
choose to set the coulters. ‘To allow the rows to 
be at larger or smaller intervals, the cylinders 
are generally moveable upon the spindle, so as 
that they may be set at any distance required, 
as 9,10, 12, or more inches. The coulters are 
made to move at the depth required, and to be 
lifted up along with the tubes or funnels when 
necessary, as at the turning at the end of the 
ridges, the encountering of obstacles, and the 
like. Sometimes the axle, instead of having 
cylinders upon it with grooves, has a series of 
small pinions or teeth. Or, in place of the teeth, 
there is employed a series of stiff brushes. The 
teeth or brushes revolve in the same manner as 
the fluted cylinders, and, by keeping the seeds in 
motion, cause them to fall through the little 
apertures or holes near the bottom of the box. 
The holes are made to be enlarged or diminished 
by means of a sliding iron plate, placed upon 
them with an equal number of similar holes with 
those of the iron-plate. When the holes of the 
seed-box and the iron-plate correspond, that is, 
when they are placed exactly one upon the other, 
the holes through which the seeds dropare of their 
largest size. But by moving the iron-plate a 
little to a side the holes do not entirely corre- 
‘spond, and hence the holes through which the 
seeds fall are lessened ; and by moving the iron- 
plate still further to one side, so as that no part 
of the two sets of holes shall correspond, those of 
the seed-box are entirely covered. The iron- 
plate which thus lessens or closes the apertures 
of the seed-box, is moved by a lever, and fixed in 
its position by screws.” 
The chief principles adopted in the construc- | 
Cooke’s drill, in consequence of being the 
sort of type of most of the good modern drills, 
deserves particular notice, and is figured in Plate 
LVI. 
the hinder part extending lower than the fore 
“The seed-box is of a peculiar shape, 
part. It is divided by partitions, and supported 
by adjustable bearings so as to preserve a regular 
delivery of the seed whilst the machine is pass- 
ing over uneven ground. The feeding cylinder 
is made to revolve by a toothed-wheel, which is 
fixed on each end of the main axle, and gears 
with other toothed wheels on each end of the 
cylinder ; the surface of the cylinder is furnished 
with a series of cups which revolve with it, 
and are of various sizes, according to the different 
These deposit the 
seed regularly in funnels, the lower ends of which 
lead immediately behind the coulters, which are 
