Wetaskiwin District Heritage Museum Centre & City of Wetaskiwin Archives

Next Tuesday, February 12th, is Canada’s Agriculture Day and we wanted to share an example of one of the many agricultural tools that has stood the test of time. We are happy to say that many of the items in our collection have aged very well and considering this hand-powered centrifugal seeder could date back to the late 1920s it’s not doing too bad either! The Cyclone brand seed sower was patented in 1925 and made at Urbana, Indiana. The one we have in our collection (Accession # 1990.028.014) belonged to the Brickman’s, who farmed west of Wetaskiwin. All they would have to do was fill the canvass sack/hopper with their choice of seed, strap it over one shoulder, and crank the handle for the seeds to be broadcasted by gear mechanisms through the field while they walked. We have taken a picture of it upside down so that you can see the broadcaster itself as well as the remains of paper directions on the right-hand side. The cloth bag is well worn, but we can still clearly read the Cyclone label painted on its side. While today most farmers use state of the art seeding machines, even those of us who just lay grass seed or fertilizers know just how useful these hand-powered broadcasters are!