We set them as near together as conveniently we can; because when they are too wide, they are apt to draw the Plough towards one Side of the Ridge; and sometimes, when the Ridge is high, the Hopper might bear upon the Funnels; and then the Wheels, being carried above the Ground, would not turn to bring out the Seed: And that these Wheels may come the nearer together, their Spokes are set almost perpendicular; so that the Wheels are not concave, as other Wheels are. This Hopper is shewn, put on upon its Standards, in its Place, in Fig. 21. where the mentioned Bar D, which holds the Hopper together at Top, is seen, as also the Four Wreaths, and likewise the hinder End of the Seed-boxes standing over the Funnels, with their Trunks underneath them. Here also the back Part of the fore Hopper is seen, with its Seed-box standing over the fore Funnel: Its Mouth also is seen at A; as also the Top of its fore Side held up by the thing (Fig. 22.) like the Carrier of a Latch, with the Nails in it, which fasten it to the Top of the fore Side of the Hopper, and give room for either of its Wheels to rise.

This fore Hopper may easily be described by the Figure of a Box, like the other already described, at its Ends, which are of the same Shape with the Inside of the Box, Fig. 12. but much lower, being Seven Inches and an half deep, and Sixteen Inches long; and the Breadth of its Bottom is determined by the Length of the Seed-box, and a little wider at Top, on account of the Bevel which poises it: It carries no more Seed than one End of the hinder Hopper; but it is capable of holding more; but we do not fill it quite, lest some of the Seed should fly over in jolting, its Mouth being so much longer than the other.

This Hopper is kept in its Place, from moving end-ways upon the Spindle, by a Wreath fixed to the Spindle at each End of the Box, in the same manner as has been described for holding the other Hopper. The Wreaths most proper for this Purpose are the Sort described in Fig. 17. but the other Sort described in Fig. 16. and even made with Wood, will suffice; but then we must take care to make the Hole at the End of the Hopper of a considerable Thickness, that it may not wear the Spindle, which, by reason of its great Length, is the more liable to bend, and be cut by the Edges of the Holes; which Cutting cannot be prevented but by the Thickness of the Holes, or by such Wreaths as that of Fig. 17.

We sometimes make this Hopper exactly like a common Box, without any Part of its Ends descending below the Bottom; and, in that Case, we place a narrower Piece of Board at each End of the Hopper, like that of Fig. 23. in which Figure, the Hole A being put on upon the Spindle, the Piece of Board is fastened on by a Screw and Nut thro’ the Hole B, near the Top of the End of the Hopper, and by another Screw and Nut thro’ the Hole C, near the Bottom of the Hopper. Another such a Piece of Board, fixed on in the same manner to the opposite End of the Hopper, holds this long Hopper parallel to its Spindle, that passes thro’ the Holes of these Two Pieces, and thro’ the Brass Seed-box, which is fixed up to the Bottom, in the Middle betwixt them.

There are Two Methods for letting the Seed pass from a long Hopper into the Seed-box. The first is that of cutting the Hole through its Bottom, in the manner that has been shewn in Fig. 14. The other is that which cannot be used in a Hopper so short as the Boxes of our hinder Hoppers are; but in the fore Hopper, or any other long Hopper, we can place the Brass Seed-box to a Bottom made for the Purpose, like that in Fig. 24. where there is a Piece of Board on the fore Part of the Hopper from End to End, as a b, and another on the hinder Part of the Hopper, as c d. Then the fore Part of the Brass Seed-box, being placed under the Piece a b, is screwed up to it at e, and the hinder Part of the Seed-box under c d screwed up to it at f; then the Bottom of the Hopper, being open in the Middle, is shut by very thin Boards, g and h, fixed up to the mentioned Pieces: These Boards having their upper Surface even with the upper Edges of the Brass Box, the Seed can no way arch in coming into the Mortise of the Seed-box. Whichever of these Two Methods be made use of, in a long Hopper, the Bottom must be fixed to the Two Sides, by small Bars of Wood of about Three quarters of an Inch square, to which the Bottom and Sides are fastened by Nails, in the manner that the Ends and Sides of the hinder Hoppers are fastened to their Posts, which stand in their Corners.

We take the same Method for cutting the Notches in this Spindle, as has been described for cutting the Notches in the other Spindle.

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[268]; 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.

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.

Some, instead of these Sheats, make use of hollow wooden Harrow-tines, thro’ which the Seed descends: But these I do not approve of; because where the Ground is hard, and not fine, they rise up, and make no Chanels for the Seed; and then it lying uncover’d will be malted.

When a Drill has only one Rank of Shares, we screw on the Harrow by its Legs, to the Inside of the Two outside Sheats, as near as we can to their fore Shoulders, leaving sufficient room for the Harrow to rise and sink, in the same manner as when it is drawn by the Beams.