Even Burbank, the wizard, has his failures--and many of them.
One of Washington's successes was what he called a "barrel plough." At that time all seed, such as corn, wheat and oats had to be sown or dropped by hand and then covered with a harrow or a hoe or something of the kind.

Washington tried to make a machine that would do the work more expeditiously and succeeded, though it should be said that his plans were not altogether original with him, as there was a plan for such a machine in Duhamel and another was published by Arthur Young about this time in the _Annals of Agriculture_, which Washington was now perusing with much attention.

Richard Peters also sent yet another plan.
Washington's drill, as we should call it to-day, consisted of a barrel or hollow cylinder of wood mounted upon a wheeled plow and so arranged that as the plow moved forward the barrel turned.

In the barrel, holes were cut or burnt through which the corn or other seed could drop into tubes that ran down to the ground.

By decreasing or increasing the number of holes the grain could be planted thicker or thinner as desired.