SOWING-MACHINKES. 
gate. This was clearly both imperfect and in- 
convenient, and these defects gave rise to the 
cutting into sections, the middle part being 9 
feet, and the extremes each 4% feet, so that when 
the latter are folded up, the extreme length of 
chest is 9 feet.” 
Dudgeon’s sowing-machine was invented about 
twelve years ago, by Mr. Dudgeon of Broomhouse, 
East Lothian, and is an amplification of the 
broadcast machine with additions of roller and 
harrow to perform the processes of sowing, rolling, 
and harrowing grass-seeds at one operation. The 
fore and hind bars of the top frame havea length 
of about 7 feet 4 inches, and are set at the dis- 
tance of 2 feet apart. The horse-shafts are bolted 
down to these bars, and have the same length as 
any ordinary horse-shafts, but are prolonged into 
extension-bars, which are bolted to their ends. 
The seed-chest occurs first, the roller next, and 
the harrow last. The seed-chest has a length of 65 
feet, and is appended to the lower side of the 
horse-shafts, immediately in front of the fore-bar, 
and may be fitted up in all respects similar to 
the common broadcast seed-chest, the spindle 
which carries the small discharging toothed 
wheels being put in motion by a belt or a chain 
passing over a pulley, 12 inches in diameter, on 
the projecting end of the spindle; the belt or 
chain receiving its motion from another pulley 
of 9 inches diameter, placed on the axle of the 
roller. The roller is also 63 feet in length, and 
is about 18 inches in diameter, though this is 
not imperative, nor is the material of any essen- 
tial importance. It is supported by its journals 
in two semicircular bars of malleable iron, or of 
cast iron, bolted to the extremities of the fore 
and hind bars. From the semicircular bars pro- 
ceed also two stays for the further support of the 
seed-chest. The harrow is suspended immediate- 
ly behind the roller. It consists of two frames, 
each 35 feet in length, and 1 foot in width, which 
are jointed end to end, and form a harrow 7 feet 
in length, with only two rows of tines. The tines 
are set at 25 inches distant; and, as those of 
the one row alternate with those of the other, 
they make a rut at every 1}inch. The direct 
suspension of the harrow is effected by means of 
chains from a moveable bar which, being jointed 
at one end, is capable of being raised aloft from 
the horizontal position to any requisite or desir- 
able point of elevation, and retained there by a 
pin passed through a quadrant over which the 
bar moves; and by this means the harrow is 
regulated as to depth,—while by means of a link 
from the semicircular bars, and by a chain from 
the extremity of the extension bars, it is duly 
stayed in a proper position, and at the same time 
has sufficient freedom of swing to ensure its 
useful effect. A joint at the middle of the har- 
row allows it to accommodate itself to the round- 
ing of the ridges when required ; and a lever in 
the middle of the top frame is, through its con- 
nexion with another lever on the back of the 
Po 
287 
seed-chest, used for opening and shutting the 
orifices, and for regulating the discharge of the 
seed, by moving a long slide plate in the usual 
manner.—Fullarton’s sowing-machine also per- 
forms the whole process of depositing grass-seeds 
at one operation ; and it differs from Dudgeon’s 
only in the arrangement of the parts,—the order 
of its processes being rolling, sowing, and har- 
rowing. 
Turnip drills exceedingly vary in size, struc- 
ture, and complexity. Some are small hand 
barrows, and others are large horse-drawn ma- 
chines; some are the simplest of all sowing ma- 
chines, and others are nearly or quite as complex 
as the most elaborately constructed grain drills; 
some sow only single rows, and others sow two 
rows, or several, or many; some sow in continu- 
ous streams, and others at intervals in the drop 
manner; some sow only seeds, and others both 
seeds and manure; some are suitable only or 
chiefly for turnip-seeds, and others are suitable 
also for corn seeds, grass seeds, or other field seeds. 
One class have grooved cylinders, with a size and 
a mode of action suited to the minuteness of the 
seeds, and make their depositions through tubes 
defended at the point by rut-making coulters ; 
another class have revolving cylindrical boxes of 
iron or tin, perforated in a line all round for the 
passage of the seeds, and sheathed in an iron or 
tin plate, also perforated with sets of holes, and 
capable of such slight shifting of position as to 
regulate the amount of discharge; and a third 
class imitate the peculiarities or aggregate struc- 
ture of some of the best large grain drills, of 
which, in some instances, they are mere modifica- 
tions. 
The common drill-barrow is a small light 
wheel-barrow, driven by hand, and sows turnip- 
seeds or other small seeds ina single row. The 
seed falls from the seed-box on a wooden or 
metal cylinder below, and is regulated, in the 
quantity of the fall, by a slide in the box; it 
afterwards lodges in several cavities in the cir- 
cumference of the cylinder, and passes down 
thence into a tin funnel below; and it is made 
to descend in an uniform stream by means of 
small brushes in which the cylinder turns. The 
motion is communicated from the wheel to the 
cylinder by a chain on two pulleys placed on the 
Axes, 
Bennet’s turnip and grass seed sowing-machine 
has a long box fixed transversely on a barrow, 
and connected by light gear-work to the barrow- 
wheel. In the box are a number of brushes 
fixed on a spindle, and running the whole length, 
which revolve, as the machine progresses, against 
perforated plates of copper, and carry with them 
the seed in such quantities as the operator de- 
sires or has set the regulating plates to let pass. 
The one-horse, two-row turnip-drill is the ma- 
chine most extensively used for sowing turnips 
in the best arable districts of Scotland. It moves 
on two concave rollers, generally of -cast-iron, 
