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connected by a beam, so as to be kept in an 
even line, and are capable of being held out of 
working when desired by a hook and link in the 
centre. The seed, as it is deposited, is covered 
in by a harrow fixed behind. The carriage 
wheels are larger in size than usual, by which 
means the machine is more easily drawn over 
uneven ground; and the labour of working is 
reduced.” The improvements made on this im- 
plement by Mr Baldwin of Mendham consisted, 
‘first, in making a sliding axle-tree, by which the 
carriage wheel could be extended at pleasure to 
the width of the ‘stetches’ or lands, and by which 
means another box with cups and more coulters 
could be used,—thus a drill containing fourteen 
coulters could be enlarged to one of eighteen or 
twenty ; second, in making self-regulating levers, 
to which the coulters were attached,—this was 
done by hanging each coulter on a distinct lever, 
placed at right angles with the cross-bar of the 
framing, upon which each lever was made to 
swing by an ordinary hinge joint, and had a 
moveable weight at its opposite end, to press the 
coulter into the soil. By the levers being thus 
contrived to work independently of each other, 
they accommodated themselves to the irregulari- 
ty of the surface of the land, and the impedi- 
ments they might meet with, without disturbing 
the whole. These were two very important 
improvements ; and they are both in use to this 
day.” 
The Suffolk drill is a highly improved modifica- 
tion of Cooke’s, together with additional appa- 
ratus and more extensive adaptations ; and it 
comprises many subvarieties, and is familiar, in 
some one or more of these, to a large proportion 
of all the better class of English agriculturists. 
The forms of it which are based on the improve- 
ments of the Messrs. Smyth of Peasenhall and 
Swefling—two brothers who followed in the 
tract of Mr. Baldwin of Mendham, and continued 
to pursue it during upwards of forty years—are 
the most extensively known, and comprise, in 
addition to the main apparatus, a contrivance 
for adjusting the coulters to distances apart from 
each other 43 inches and upwards,—a manure- 
box and cups, for the deposition of special ma- 
nures along with the seed-corn,—a contrivance 
for sowing small seeds simultaneously with drill- 
ing in manure and seed-corn,—a swing-steerage 
for enabling the man in attendance on the ma- 
chine to move the coulters to the right hand or 
the left, so as to keep the straight and parallel 
lines for sowing the seeds,—and various improve- 
ments in the barrel, the gearing, the wheels, and 
other parts. “The Suffolk drill,” says Mr. Ran- 
some, “is now the kind in the most general use 
throughout the kingdom, and is adapted for 
drilling corn either on level lands or on ridges, 
and on all descriptions of soil. It is furnished 
with independent levers, by which the coulters 
are each readily and separately made to avoid 
any rocks or irregularities of the ground, and a 
SOWING-MACHINES. 
press-bar, extending over the entire width of the 
machine, to force the coulters, in case of need, 
into hard ground, with a varying degree of pres- 
sure, according to the texture of the soil. The 
coulters.can be set so as to drill the corn at any 
width, from four inches to a greater distance ; 
they also, if required, readily allow of the intro- 
duction of the horse-hoe ; and, from being placed 
in double rows, they admit, when at work, large 
stones to pass between them of a size that, under 
the old plan of placing the coulters in one line, 
would break or stop the machine. The most 
complete drills are furnished with the ‘swing 
steerage’ before referred to, by which the drill- 
man keeps the rows at exact or even distances 
from those which have been previously drilled. 
The ‘corn barrel’ is made to deliver from two 
pecks to six or seven bushels, or strikes of seed, 
per acre ; and they are furnished with an addi- 
tional barrel for drilling turnips and mangel- 
wurzel. These barrels, by a simple yet efficient 
‘regulator,’ are kept on unequal hilly ground at 
the same level; so that the grain is evenly de- 
livered, in whatever situation the drill may be 
placed. The weight of these drills necessarily 
varies with the number of coulters,—ranging 
from three to ten cwt. They are drawn, accord- 
ing to circumstances, by one, two, or three horses. 
The sliding axletree, allowing the addition of any 
number of coulters, adapts the drill to different 
breadths of land.” 
Garrett’s drill for general purposes is a highly 
improved variety of the Suffolk drill, together 
with additional contrivances for giving it both 
nicety of execution and a wide range of adapta- 
tion. It is well and truly described as follows in 
the Catalogue of its patentees and manufacturers, 
the Messrs. Garrett of Leiston in Suffolk ; and we 
need only premise that a picture of the machine 
is given in Plate L VII, and a copy of the diagram 
referred to in the description in ZVZ//.:—“In 
order to render it as intelligible as possible, it - 
may be described, first, as a drill for artificial 
manures and corn or seeds,—secondly, as a sim- 
ple corn or grass seed drill,—and thirdly, asa 
turnip or mangold-wurtzel seed and manure 
drill. In the first place, it is adapted to drill 
corn or seeds, with or without manure, in any 
required quantities, and at any distance apart. 
Corn may be deposited down separate conductors 
from the manure, or through the same pipes, 
either mixing them together, or separating them 
by a portion of mould being placed between the 
manure and seed, by rakes, or drags, provided 
for that purpose. In order that a continued and 
regular supply of manure may always be falling 
from the manure box, a double-actioned stirrer 
is introduced into it, having a perpendicular as 
well as a revolving motion, by means of which 
the manure (which in the drills hitherto in use, 
frequently clogged and hung back in the box, so 
much so as to require the attendance of a person 
to prevent it) is constantly disturbed and pressed 
