If ever there shall be Occasion for this Sort of Notches, it must be when a great Proportion of Seed is to be drill’d by a small Spindle, and low Wheels: The Smalness of the Spindle may not, by a single Set, admit of a sufficient Number of Notches (of a proper Bigness) in its Circumference; not that a double Set, by its double Number, will throw down a greater Quantity of Seed than a single Set of the same Width and Depth, but a less Quantity; But it may be feared, that a very small Number of Notches might not spread the Seed so much as to cause it to lie even in the Chanels, one Notchful falling all to the Ground, before any of the next Notchful reaches it, which would make Chasms or Gaps in the Row of Corn or Legumes: This, such a double Number of Notches will certainly prevent.
It would seem, that the higher the Wheels, the more need there should be for this double Set of Notches: But it appears to be otherwise; for the greater Distance the Seed has to fall, the more it spreads, and strikes oftener against the Funnel and Trunk; and by that means a Notch from high Wheels will, with the same Quantity of Seed, supply a greater Length of the Chanel (or Furrow) than a Notch will from low Wheels.
In all my Practice I never had any Occasion for such a double Set of Notches, either with high or low Wheels, or even when I drilled into open Chanels, without Funnels or Trunks to my Drill-plough; and yet my Rows of St. Foin, and of Corn, were always free from Gaps, being equally supply’d with Seed from one End to the other.
If ever there is Occasion for more than a single Set, it must be for Beans, for which also I think a large Spindle is better than a double Set of Notches in a small one. The largest Spindle I have known made, is of Two Inches and an half Diameter, and that only for Horse-Beans.
The best Sort of Notches for a double Set are those which have convex Bottoms; because such are less liable to drop their Seeds without the turning of the Wheels, than any other Sort: And a double Set must be in greater Danger of this, as the Tongue is always hindered from pressing so closely against any Notch, being held open by the Seeds on the opposite Interstice; which is contrary to a single Set, where no Seed can lodge at either End of a Notch, to hold open the Tongue, or hinder its pressing against it.
Note, When I made my Boxes of Wood, I had double Boxes, with a Partition between such a double Set of Notches; but never made such in Brass, not knowing whether that Partition, by its Thinness of hard Metal, might not cut the Spindle: Yet I never found any Occasion for a double Row of Notches. I made those double Boxes only for drilling Two Sorts of Seeds at once into the same Chanel.
The other Way of varying the Proportion of Seed in the same Boxes, is by the Diameter of the Wheels, when we can alter them; for Wheels, of what Diameter soever they are, must turn round all the Notches at one Revolution; so that Wheels of Twenty Inches Diameter will deliver out a third Part more Seed than Wheels of Thirty Inches Diameter, into the same Length of the Chanels; but we seldom have any Occasion to alter the Wheels, unless it be on account of planting a Species of Seed of a different Magnitude, as the largest Sort of Peas, and small-grain’d Wheat, or St. Foin Seed are.
These are all the Ways we have to alter the Proportion of Seed, we drill with the same Seed-boxes; these Two Sizes, already described, being sufficient for all Sorts of Corn and Seeds which we commonly sow, from Marrow-peas to Turnep-seed; but, for drilling of Beans, the Boxes must be larger, and are commonly made of Wood, the Spindle Two Inches Diameter, or more, and the Boxes Two Inches wide: Where note, That this Increasing of the Width of the Mortise, from an Inch and an half, to Two Inches, increases the Quantity of Seed to almost double; because this Half Inch is all added to the Middle of the Notches, where they are deeper than their Ends; the Bevel of which takes up a considerable Part of the Length of the Notches. For Beans, they also contrive to have their Wheels as low as conveniently they can. These Wooden Drills are now become common in many Places.
The Wooden and Brass Seed-boxes differ not in any of the most essential Parts of them; only the Wooden Box must be thicker, as the Wood is not so strong as Brass; the Spring is made strait instead of crooked; and, being let into the Back of the Wooden Tongue, bears against it at each End; and the Chanel, into which it is placed, being made hollow in the Middle, the Spring has its Play there, and must be stiffer and have a little more Play in the Bean-drill, than in any lesser Seed-box.
I, at first, made all my Seed-boxes of dry Box-tree Wood, which performed very well, and are still used: But, a few Years ago, a Gentleman advised me to make them in Brass; the doing of which has put me to a great deal of Trouble and Expence, for want of understanding the Founder’s Art: Yet this I do not repent, because they are, in some respect, better than those made in Wood; especially to those who do not well understand their Fabric; for, to such, the Swelling and Shrinking of the Wood was inconvenient in small Boxes: And I now am told, that they are cast in London of the best Brass, at the Price of One Shilling per Pound, and so smooth as to require very little filing. And these Brass Boxes being also more lasting than Wood, and not much more expensive, when Workmen know how to make them, I think it not worth while to give any particular Directions for making them in Wood.