Part 65

But observe, That the great Length of this Spindle requires it to be the larger; and we make it of an Inch and Three quarters Diameter, the other being only an Inch and an half: We therefore bore the great Hole or Cylinder of its Brass Seed-box a quarter of an Inch in Diameter larger than of the Brass Seed-boxes of the hinder Hoppers; and we commonly make a Notch more in the Circumference of this Spindle, because the Semidiameters of its Wheels must be as much greater than of the hinder Wheels, as is the Thickness of the Plank, and the Ends of the Limbers which are betwixt this Spindle and the upper Surface of the Two Beams.

We make all our Spindles of clear-quarter’d Ash, without Knots or Crooks; and when they are well dry’d, and made perfectly round, and of equal Diameter from one End to the other, by the Prong-maker, we pay a Peny per Foot for them at the first Hand, and they will now-and-then have something more for the largest Size; but we are only curious to have the middle Part of this long Spindle exact; for we graft on a Piece at each End, which does not require any Exactness: The Graftings are seen at a a at one End, and b b at the other End of the Spindle (in this Fig. 21.) by Four flattish Iron Rings driven on upon the grafted Parts, as they appear under those Letters in the Middle. Between each Pair of these Rings, we drive a small Iron Pin thro’ the Joints at c and at d, to keep the Grafts from separating end-ways; and if they are not tight enough, we make them so, by Wedges driven in betwixt them and the Spindle.

This fore Hopper is drawn by the Spindle, and the Spindle is drawn by the Two double Standards B and C, betwixt whose Forks it is placed, as appears in this Figure; the Distance between each Fork, or double Standard, being exactly the Diameter of the Spindle, so that the Spindle may have just room to rise and sink there, and no more.

The Hopper and Spindle are guided, or kept in their Place, from moving end-ways, by Two Wreaths screw’d on to the Spindle, the one at e, and the other at f; each of which Wreaths, bearing against the Surfaces of both the Legs of each double Standard, on the Sides next to the Hopper, prevent the Spindle and Hopper from moving towards either End; and yet admit the Wheels, or either of them, to rise and sink without raising either Side of the Plough, contrary to what would happen, if the Wreaths were placed on the Outsides of the Standards next to the Wheels.

We make these Wreaths a little different from the other Sort of Wreaths, which turn against the Holes; we make them of a greater Diameter, lest they should at any time get in betwixt the Legs of the double Standards, in case the Standards should be loose, or bend: Therefore we make the Diameter of each of these Wreaths, at least, Two Inches and Three quarters: We always make them of Wood, and of a peculiar Shape, taking off their Edges next the Standards, which Edges would be an Impediment to the Rising of one End of the Spindle without the other. So that, for making these Wreaths, we may form a Piece of Wood of the Shape of a Skittle-bowl (or an oblate Spheroid) having an Inch and Three-quarter Hole bor’d thro’ its Middle, and then cut by its Diameter (which is about Three Inches) in Two Halves, each of which will be one of these Wreaths; and they must be placed on the Spindle, with their convex Sides bearing against their respective Standards.

The Diameter of the fore Wheels is about Thirty Inches, as the Diameter of the hinder Wheels is about Twenty-two.

The fore Spindle should be of such a Length, that its square Ends, E and F, may come out Three or Four Inches farther than the Hubs (or Stocks) of the Wheels; so that there may be room to shift the Wheels towards either End, for making several Sets of Notches, for the Use of the Seed-box.

Observe, Tho’ the fore Hopper is drawn by its Spindle, yet the hinder Spindle is drawn by its Hopper.

The Reason of this great Distance between the Two fore Wheels is not so much for their serving as Marking Wheels to this particular Drill; which being drawn only upon a Ridge, its Top is a sufficient Direction for leading the Horse to keep the Rows parallel to one another, if the Ridges are so; but if the Wheels were much nearer together than they are, and yet more than Six Feet asunder, the Wheels going on the Sides of the next Ridges would be apt to turn the Drill out of the Horse-path towards one Side, not permitting the Drill to follow directly after the Horse; and if the Wheels should stand at Six or Seven Feet Distance from one another, then they must go in the Furrows which are on each Side of the Six-feet Ridge: This would occasion their Hopper to bear upon the Plank, which would carry the Wheels above the Ground, and no Seed would be turned out of the Hopper, unless the Wheels were of an extraordinary Height; and the Height requir’d for them would be very uncertain, some Furrows being much deeper than others; but the Tops of contiguous Ridges are generally of an equal Height, whether the Furrows betwixt them be deep or shallow; for we seldom make Ridges of an unequal Height in the same Field: Therefore there can be no need to change the Height of our Wheels, that are to go upon the Middle of the Ridges; but if they went in the Furrows they must be of a different Height when used for drilling of high Ridges, from what would be required when used for drilling low Ridges.

Notwithstanding the Reasons given, and that I have never used Wheels of such an Height as might be necessary for going in the Furrows, yet it may not be amiss to try such; because with them the Spindle needeth not to be more than half the Length of one that is carried by low Wheels: And high Wheels will allow the Funnel to be much larger, so that altho’ the Spindle go higher from it, no Seed will drop beside a large Funnel; but there is not room for a large one under low Wheels.

I did not think it necessary to describe the Manner of making Drill-wheels any otherways than by shewing them in the Plates; but I will observe here, that they are to be made very light: One of mine, that is 30 Inches high, weighs Five Pounds and an half; it has a Circle or Ring of Iron, whose Depth is half an Inch, and its Thickness a quarter of an Inch; also very thin Iron Stock-bands to hold the Nave or Stock from splitting. The Circle is held on the Spokes by small flat Iron Pins on each Side; and each Spoke has a Ring of Iron to secure its End from being split by driving in of the Pins. We also make the Drill-wheels less concave than other Wheels are.

One Reason why the hinder Shares are shorter than the fore Share (and consequently the fore Part of their Sheats less oblique) is, that they may be set the nearer to the Plank; and I have had a Drill with Five Shares in the Plank, Fourteen Inches asunder, and Four of these hinder Sheats following in another Rank, whose Shares were less than Three Inches long; so that their Beams were set so far forwards, that one Hopper (by a Contrivance that carried the Seed forwards to the fore Rank, and backwards to the other Rank) supply’d the Seed to both Ranks of Trunks, and planted St. Foin in Rows Seven Inches asunder, when the Ground was too rough to be planted with Rows at that Distance by one Rank of Shares.

It may be objected, that the fore Part of these hinder Sheats might not be oblique enough to raise up the Strings of Roots or Stubble, which might come across them in their Way; but this Inconvenience is remedied by the greater Obliquity of the fore Sheat (or Sheats), which clears the Way for the hinder Sheats, by raising out of the Ground such Strings, &c. which might annoy them; especially, in this Wheat-drill, where the fore Share so clears the way of the hinder Shares, that they can take hold of no String in the Ground, except of the Ends of such which the fore Share has loosen’d; and they hanging faster in the Ground by their other Ends, the hinder Shares slip by them without taking hold of them; and the Harrow-tines, going after so near to the Chanels of the hinder Sheats, by the same means escape also from hanging in such Strings.

The Reasons for placing the One Share and One Hopper before, and the Two behind, in this Wheat-drill, are so many, and so obvious, that it would be but losing of Time to mention them.

The Limbers G and H, we make of Aspen, Poplar, or Willow, for Lightness; we make them as small and light as we can, allowing them convenient Strength; and the shorter they are, the more exactly the Drill will follow the Horse, without the Hand of him, that follows the Drill, whose chief Business is, with the Paddle to keep all the Shares and Tines from being clogged up by the Dirt sticking to them, and also to observe whether the Seed be delivered equally and justly to all the Chanels.

These Limbers should approach so near together at their fore Parts, near the Chain, that there may be none or very little room betwixt the Limbers and the Horse; and therefore must be nearer together for a very little Horse than for a great one: The Horse, which I have used in all my Drills for these many Years past, is a little one, about Thirteen Hands high; and the fore Part of my Drill-limbers are Twenty Inches wide asunder at the Chain.

At g on the Outside of the Limber G, is a small Staple driven in, having one Link on it, which holds a small Hook, which, taking hold of different Links of the very small Chain I, raises or sinks the fore Part of the Plough to different Heights. But take care to set it at such a Degree, that the fore and hinder Share may go equally deep in the Ground; and when they do so, the fore Part of the Limbers ought to be higher than the Traces which draw them.

At h in the Limber H, is driven another Staple, which holds the other End of the Chain; or else, instead of a Chain, we may make use of a Piece of Cord, one End of which put thro’ this Staple, and ty’d to the Limber, and a Piece of Chain of half a dozen Links, fasten’d to the other End of such a Cord, will serve as well as a whole Chain, for raising and sinking the Limbers.

He who can by these Directions make this Wheat-drill, may very easily make any other Sort of Drill, for planting any Sort of Corn, or other Seeds that are near about the Bigness of Seeds of Corn: He may make it with a single Row of Sheats, by placing as many of these fore Sheats as he pleases in the Plank, which maybe longer or shorter, as he thinks fit; and he may add a Beam betwixt every Two of them, with a Sheat in it, like these hinder Sheats; and then the Drill will be double, having Two Ranks of Shares. But I must advise him never to make a Drill with more Shares than will be contain’d in Four Feet Breadth, that is, from the outermost on the right Hand, to the outermost on the left Hand; for should the Drill be broader, some of the Shares might pass over hollow Places of the Ground without reaching them, and then the Seed falling on the Ground would be uncover’d in such low Places.

To a Drill that plants upon the Level, Marking-wheels are necessary, to the End that every Row may be at its due Distance: As in a Drill with Five Shares, for planting Rows Eight Inches asunder, Four of the Five cannot err, because Four equal Spaces are included betwixt the Five Shares; but the Fifth (which we call the parting Space) being on the Outside unconfin’d, would scarce ever be equal, were it not kept equal by the Help of the Marking-wheels. The Rule for setting of these is thus: We compute altogether the Five Spaces belonging to the Five Rows; which being in all Forty Inches, we set the Marking-wheels Eighty Inches asunder, that is, double the Distance of all the Spaces, each Wheel being equidistant to the Middle of the Drill, which Middle being exactly over the Horse-path, when the Drill is turn’d, the Horse goes back upon the Track of one of these Wheels, making his Path exactly Forty Inches distant from his last Path: By this means also the Rows of the whole Field may be kept equidistant, and parallel to one another; so that it would be difficult for an Eye to distinguish the parting Rows from the rest.

But when Two different Sorts of Seed are planted, suppose a Row of St. Foin betwixt every Row of Barley, the Rows of which being Eight Inches asunder, and the Barley drill’d by the fore Hopper into the Chanels made by the five Shares, and the St. Foin drill’d from the hinder Hopper into the Chanels made by Six Shares, the Marking-wheels must be at no greater Distance than those above-mention’d, where there are only Five Shares; because one of the Six, which are for the St. Foin, must always return in the same Chanel, going twice therein; for One Row of Barley would be missing, in case the parting Space should be made by this Sixth Share; and that parting Space would have no Barley in it. Therefore it is a Rule, that whensoever Two Sorts of Seeds are drill’d, the Rows of one Sort betwixt the Rows of the other there must be an odd Share in the Drill, which must go twice in one Chanel, and the Distance of the Marking-wheels must be accounted from that Rank of Shares which are the fewest: It must also be contriv’d in this Case, that each outermost Seed-box must deliver but half the Quantity of Seed that each of the inner Seed-boxes do; because the outer ones going twice in a Place, their Chanels would otherwise have a Quantity of Seed double to the rest.

In a Drill that has Two Spindles, we place the Marking-wheels on the foremost, which upon their Account is the longest; but if we should use the Wheels of the hinder Spindle as Marking-wheels, then that must be the longest, and so the fore Wheels (their Semidiameters being much longer than the Semidiameters of the hinder Wheels, and their Spindles shorter) would strike against the hinder Spindle, unless it were set farther back than is convenient.

When Ground is harrow’d the last time before it is to be drill’d, we contrive that the Harrows may not go directly towards the same Point that the Drill is to go, lest the Track of the Marking-wheel should be exactly parallel with the Track of the Harrow-tines, which might make it difficult to distinguish the Track of the Wheel from that of the Harrow-tine.

He that has not a great Quantity of Ground to plant with St. Foin, and does not plant it betwixt Rows of Corn, will have occasion for no other Drill than this Wheat-drill, describ’d in Fig. 21. He may plant his Rows at Fifteen Inches asunder, by the hinder Hopper, and its Shares, without removing them, the fore Hopper being taken off; or else you may plant Three Rows at Sixteen Inches asunder, by setting the Beams, and their Seed-boxes and Hoppers, at Thirty-two Inches asunder instead of Fifteen, equidistant from the fore Share: and then the Marking-wheels, which are those of the fore Spindle, must be Eight Feet asunder; to wit, double to the Spaces of the Three Shares, which are Three times Sixteen Inches (or Four Feet); or you may set the Two hinder Beams, &c. at what Distance you please, setting the Marking-wheels to correspond with them; but then the Harrow must be alter’d, and both its Legs and Tines must change their Places in the Head, the Legs for guiding it exactly, and the Tines to follow in all the Three Rows, which will require a third Tine to be added in the Middle, between the other Two. But without any other Alteration than that of taking off the fore Hopper, and that of lessening the Seed-passages of the hinder Hopper by the Setting-screws; my Man planted me several Acres of St. Foin with my Wheat-drill Two Years ago, the Rows being all Fourteen Inches asunder: It is now an extraordinary good Crop.

In case the Shares, being only Three, should in fine Ground go so deep as to endanger the Burying of the Seed, the best Remedy to prevent this fatal Misfortune is, to place a triangular Piece of Wood, like those in Figures 25. and 26. the first of which shews one Side thereof, with the Nail by which it is to be nail’d into the lower Part of the Trunk, with, its most acute Angle uppermost; the other in Fig. 26. shews the same, and its Back-side a b, that is to be nail’d to the Back of the Shear, being of the same Breadth with it; its Bottom b c being the Breadth of the Plates, on their Inside, the Angle c coming out backwards, just as far as the Plates: The Depth of this Piece from a to c is uncertain, because the Plates of some Trunks are broader than of others. The Use of this Piece is, to fill up the lower Part of the Trunk; so that the Seed, dropping upon the oblique Side of this Piece of Wood, may by it be turn’d into the Chanel, after so much Mould is fallen in it, as will sufficiently lessen its Depth, whereby the Danger of burying the Seed is avoided: And such a Piece of Wood placed into each Trunk, I think, is preferable to Ground-wrists, which are commonly used for this Purpose; because the Ground-wrists leave the Chanels too wide and open.

But when only the Two hinder Sheats are used for St. Foin, we can make their Chanels the shallower, by sinking the Limbers by their Chain, so much as that, the Plough bearing most upon the fore Share, the hinder Shares will go the shallower.

When we drill hilly Ground, both up and down, we cover the hinder Parts of all the Trunks, from their Tops, to within Two or Three Inches of the Ground, to prevent the Seed’s falling out far behind the Trunk, in going up Hill; and this we do either by a Piece of Leather nail’d to each Side of a Sheat, the Middle of the Leather bearing against the hinder Part of the Plates (or Trunk); or sometimes, instead of Leather, we use Tin.

Every Trunk being thus inclos’d behind, we can drill up and down an hill of a moderate Ascent; but when it is very steep, we never drill any thing but St. Foin on it, and that by a Drill made for the Purpose, so very light, that a Man may carry it up the Hill on his Back, and draw it down after him: This Drill has Five or Six Sheats in one Row (with the Harrow behind them). Their Shares being extremely short, the Standards which draw the Hopper must be set perpendicular to the Horizon, when the Drill is coming down, rather than to the Surface of the Side of the Hill: The Funnels must also correspond with the Standards.