Note 267 — CHAP. XX. Of the Drill-Boxes.

But by putting on a Wreath (that is a little broader than the Mortise) upon the Spindle (made longer for that Purpose) we can, by changing this Wreath from one End of the Spindle to the other, have Two sets of Notches of different Sizes, and of different Numbers in it: Or if we would have Three Sets, we need only make Use of Two such Wreaths, and let the Spindle be long enough to receive them. So we may use which Set we please.

Tho’ several Sets of Notches may be useful to those who drill many Sorts of fine Seeds different in Magnitude in a very great Degree; yet I never found more than one Set of Notches necessary in this Spindle.

Nor have I used any more than one Set of Notches in one Mortise of any Sort; but in a wide Mortise, there may be made a double Set of Notches, consisting of Two Rows, all of equal Bigness, and half of the Length, and double the Number of a single Row, one End of each Notch reaching to the Middle of the Mortise, and pointing against the End of an Interstice, that is between Two or its opposite Notches.

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.