Seed′ing-ma-chine′.
（
Husbandry.) An implement for sowing seed.
The term, in its general sense, may include machines for planting in hills, drills, or broadcast, but it is confined more usually to machines for distributing seed in drills or broadcast.
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Seeder. |
Seeding in
Egypt was done upon the mud left by the retiring
Nile.
When
Osiris retired within his banks, the fertilized ground brought forth, and the husbandman who scattered the seed from his basket was followed by the plows, the bush-harrow, or by a flock of sheep or goats, whose feet hid the seed beneath the surface of the soil.
There were three different modes of seeding grain in use among the Romans in the times of
Varro and
Columella.
1. The seed was thrown upon plowed ground and then plowed in.
2. The land was
ribbed, or, as we say,
listed, and the seed drilled by hand along the top of the ridge.
3. The land was
listed, the seed sown broadcast, and covered by harrowing down the ridges.
4. The seed (such as vetches) was sown broadcast on unplowed land, and was then plowed in.
The
Chinese have used a grain-drill for ages.
At the present day their drill consists of a wheelbarrow carrying the seedhop-per, and having three hollow teeth, 28 inches in length, which draw a furrow into which the seed drops.
This machine follows the plow, and is itself followed by the roller.
See seeding-plow.
A native machine used in
British India is substantially similar.
We find drills, both for seed and manure, mentioned by Worlidge in his “Husbandry,” 1669.
Evelyn, who was one of the founders of the Royal Society of
England, and who died in 1706, wrote in high commendation of a
drill which was the invention of Don
Joseph de Lescatello, a nobleman of Carinthia, in 1663.
This consisted of a seed-box, having a cylinder furnished with wheels to distribute the seed, and dropped the seed regularly in the furrow.
It was fastened behind the stilts of the plow.
The inventor was rewarded therefor by the Emperor Rudolphus II.
He afterward took out a patent, in
Spain!
It was recommended as saving 15 of the seed otherwise necessary on a given area.
The
Earl of
Sandwich forwarded it from
Spain to
England.
In 1730, the invention came under the notice of
Jethro Tull, the inventor of the horseshoe.
He was delighted with the suitability of the instrument for his mode of cultivation, and its success was thenceforth established.
See grain-drill; Cul-Tivator; hoe; plow, etc.
Fig. 4810 is one form of seeding-machine having hollow shares drawn by dragbars, and dropping into the furrow the seed which is uniformly fed from the hopper above.
In
Fig. 4811, the seed mechanism is actuated by the roller, which forms the earth into ridges, for protection of the seed.
The relative vertical position of the parts is adjustable, to regulate the depth of planting.
The rear rollers cover the seed.
See also grain-drill,
Fig. 2278-81, pages 1002-4.
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Seed-drill. |
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Seeding-machine. |
Howard's English grain-drill is driven by steam, sows a land 16 feet wide, and drills and harrows 20 acres per day.
