MACHINES FOR PLANTING AND SOWING.
: Cahoon' s Broadcast Sower (pi. 57, fig. 6) consists of a small hopper, which is strapped to the shoulders of the operator, and from which the seed is thrown by turning a crank, which causes a rapid rotary motion of the seed-distributer and throws the grain broadcast on each side at a distance which varies according to the weight and momen tum of the different kinds of seed.
Figure 7 (pl. 57) shows a broadcast sower geared to and actuated by one of the hind wheels of an ordinary wagon, in the rear end of which it is placed. It is designed, by the use of gauge-plates and discs differently graduated, for sowing all kinds of grain and seeds as well as the ordinary commercial fertilizers. It can be so adjusted as to sow either a full cast or a half-cast, the former being for wheat from 36 to 4o feet wide. As the grain is not thrown at any point higher than the wagon-bed and is deliv ered to the ground with great force, it is not affected by the wind. It will sow from forty to eighty acres per day, depending ou the variety of grain and the width of cast sown.
The II'heelbarrow (fig. 12) is a very light machine, sim ple in construction and easy to operate. The hopper is carried so low that the wind does not affect the seed on its way to the ground. It will sow the exact quantity per acre that it is set to sow, and it makes no dif ference in the quantity whether the machine is run fast or slow.
former slow and laborious method of broadcast sow ing, or of dropping the seed by hand and covering it with a hoe, has gen erally been superseded by the use of machines, among which the grain-drill takes the most prominent place. There are several makes, which do not very essentially differ in their external appearance. For example we illus trate the improved Buckeye drill in Figure S. The principal feature that distinguishes this machine is the method of gearing for the feed. The easing in which the gearing, called the " centre gear," is contained is pivoted on the steel axle at the centre and in part rests upon and is sup ported by the lifting-bar in the rear. The gearing consists substantially of three cog- or gear-wheels, the first of which is fastened to and is revolved by the steel axle; the second is attached to and revolves with the feed-shaft, which is underneath the hopper and extends the full length of the drill; while the third is a central wheel which transmits the power from the first to the second or from the axle to the feed-shaft (fig. 9).
Firmly fixed to the feed-shaft is a fluted feed-roll, which penetrates and entirely fills a cup-like attachment at the bottom of the grain-box or hop per. As the feed-shaft revolves it carries with it the fluted roll, which as it turns receives the grain admitted to the cup from the hopper, carries it around, and discharges it in an even, steady flow into the spout. The dis charge of the grain is regulated by a "cut-off," which is operated by the lever or dial-finger seen at the right in the Figure. As the feed-shaft is moved laterally to the right or the left the fluted roll is moved in or out of the cup, by which means the discharge-opening is increased or dimin ished to suit the character or quantity of the seed. The feed will work with equal facility any of the various farm-seeds; in an improved form of the machine there is added a feed for fertilizers.
As both the spoke-wheels are drivers, it makes no difference in the sow ing of the grain or seed whether they continue to move in conjunction or not. Either wheel may stop and the other one will keep the axle in motion, which, in turn, keeps the feed-shaft, and through it the grain- and seed distributers, etc., in uniform and uninterrupted action. The great advan tage of this arrangement is that by it all irregularity in sowing, or bunch ing of grain, is prevented.
There are employed eight or nine hoes, which are set, respectively, 7 and 8 inches apart. The feed-shaft is driven from the revolving axle by the centre gear, and in turn drives the grain-distributers, grass-seed sowers, etc. In front of the hopper is the seed-sower, which is so arranged that it may be shifted to the rear; it operates with equal facility in either position.