284 
lever varieties of the Suffolk drill; and it com- 
prises improvements for which a patent was 
taken out in the year 1838. These improve- 
ments are, first, the application of improved me- 
tallic hinge-joints to the moving levers, so as to 
ensure their continuing parallel with each other, 
and in a line with the course of the machine ; 
second, the addition of a pair of thin edged wheels 
and a fore axle-tree to the machine, by which it 
can be guided with certainty in any direction ; 
third, a peculiar apparatus for steering the ma- 
chine, consisting of a shaft passing through a 
socket, fixed in a plummer-block to the foot- 
board, its outer end being attached to the fore- 
axle by a universal joint, the other end having a 
wheel with handles fixed thereon, by which the 
machine is readily steered in its course; and 
fourth, the application of improved iron sockets 
to the sides of the levers, as a means of fastening 
the coulters, intead of weakening the levers by 
passing through them. This implement also ad- 
mits of horse-hoes being substituted for the drill- 
coulters ; and it performs well the work of horse- 
hoeing among young plants. 
The Scotch drill comprises a number of varie- 
ties, differing from one another principally in 
size, and sowing from five to eleven rows. It is 
mounted on two wheels, and derives from one o 
them the motion for turning its machinery of 
distribution. Its discharging apparatus com- 
prises a line of small thin-toothed wheels, re- 
volving within the seed-chest,—a series of orifices 
beneath the wheels, for allowing the seeds to drop 
through which are brought down by their revo- 
lution,—and a number of tubes, corresponding to 
the number of rows which the machine can sow, 
for catching the seeds from the orifices, and con- 
veying them down to the chambers of the coul- 
ters. A chain passes from the horse-shafts under 
the seed-chest to the hind-bar, and is there 
hooked or let go by the conductor at pleasure ; 
and this assists him to keep the coulters in the 
ground. A marking-bar is attached to the ma- 
chine, and traces a streak in the soil; and along 
this streak the horse is made to walk in the re- 
turning bout in order to equalize the interval 
between the bouts. Except in cases where the 
whole field is tilled quite flat, this machine, in 
consequence of the coulters being fixed, is best 
adapted for sowing across the ridges. The varie- 
ties of it which have only five or six tubes are 
drawn by one horse; and those of larger size are 
drawn by two. 
Morton’s drill was invented about the year 
1828 by Mr. S. Morton of Edinburgh. It is one 
of the simplest and cheapest of the corn-drills, 
and at the same time may bear comparison with 
the best. A figure of it is given in Plate LVII. 
It has a large wheel, with an universal joint ; and 
is fitted with brushes and shutters. “Three 
hoppers are included in one box; and the seed 
escapes out of all the three by the revolution of 
three seed-cylinders upon one axle; and drills 
SOWING-MACHINES. 
of different breadths are produced simply by the 
shifting of a nut that fixes a screw moving in a 
groove in the under frame, by which the dis- 
tance between the two outside conductors and 
the central one (which is fixed) can be varied 
from 9 to 10 or 11 inches; and that the two 
small wheels may always be at the same distances 
respectively as the conductors, there are two 
washers (hollow cylinders), an inch in breadth, 
on the axle arms of each, which may be trans- 
ferred either to the outside or inside of the 
wheels so as to make their distances from the 
outside conductors 9, 10, or 11 inches respective- 
ly also. The small wheels may be raised or de- 
pressed, so as to alter the depth, at which the 
seed shall be deposited, by the action of a wedge, 
which retains the upright part of the axle in any 
one (at pleasure) of a number of notches, which are 
made similarly in both, and which are caught by 
an iron plate on the upper side of the arms which 
carry the axles. This machine may be still fur- 
ther improved by increasing the number of con- 
ductors to five, instead of three, the latter num- 
ber giving too light work to the horses.” 
The Bedfordshire drill is a simple and in- 
genious machine, and possesses an eminently ad- 
vantageous arrangement for the directing of its 
motion and the controlling of its work. A figure 
of it is given in Plate LVIII. It was invented 
by Robert Salmon of Woburn; and obtained 
about thirty-five years ago the premium at the 
Duke of Bedford’s annual sheep-shearing ; and 
it was afterwards improved, first by two brothers 
of the name of Bachelor, at Lidlington, in the 
vicinity of Bedford,—and next by several of the 
present manufacturers of it, particularly Hensman 
of Ampthill, Hensman of Woburn, and Smith of 
Kempston, in Bedfordshire. “The seed-box,” . 
says Mr. Ransome, “ is suspended upon two cen- 
tres, one at each side ; on these it swings so as 
to keep its level position as the drill moves up 
and down hill, or over ridges. Sometimes, instead 
of the box being made to swing upon centres, it 
is fixed so as to be altered, as occasion may re- 
quire, by an adjusting screw and crank placed in a 
convenient position for the drill-man to regulate. 
The seed-corn is taken up by iron cups fixed on 
circular plates and delivered into funnels, from 
whence it descends to the ground ; these plates 
are centred upon a spindle, which revolves by 
being connected with the nave of one of the car- 
riage wheels. The coulters are forced into the 
land by an equal pressure upon each from the 
centre of the carriage, on which nearly the whole 
weight of the drill rests, The steerage is effected 
by a pair of light wooden bars, attached to the 
axle on which the carriage wheels run. These 
have a cross bar at their ends, to which small 
handles are attached, so that the man may guide 
the drill to a nicety, whether he be at the right 
or left side of it. Drills on this principle of steer- 
age are made with four, six, or eight coulters ; 
the two larger sizes are in general use in Bed- 
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