Multi-tube seed drill
Sembradora de tubos múltiples
- Date
- c. 90 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Chang'an (Xi'an), Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Zhao Guo, superintendent of agriculture for Emperor Wu of Han
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
An iron seed drill pulled by an ox with three tubes that deposit seed in rows at a regular depth. It saved seed and made weeding easier compared with broadcast sowing.
Europe had no practical seed drills until Jethro Tull (1701); transmission from China is an unproven hypothesis.
What it led to
- row sowing and efficient weeding in northern China
- increased millet and wheat yields