Seed drill
Sembradora mecánica en hileras
- Date
- 1701 · confidence high
- Place
- Crowmarsh Gifford, Oxfordshire, England
- Credited to
- Jethro Tull
- People
- 👤 Jethro Tull1674–1741
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A horse-drawn machine that opened furrows, deposited seed at a regular depth and covered it, in rows that allowed hoeing with a horse-drawn hoe. It reduced seed use and increased yield.
Chinese seed drills had existed since the 2nd century BCE, and an Italian one dated from 1566; Tull popularised the system in England.
What it led to
- The British agricultural revolution and row cropping
- Scientific, experimental agriculture (Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, 1731)
- Greater productivity that freed up labour for industry
Built on
- Chinese tube seed drill
- Camillo Torello's seed drill (Venetian patent, 1566)
- pipe organ (Tull adapted its mechanism)
Made possible
- Norfolk four-course rotationc. 1730
- Factory-made seed drills (19th century)
- Horse hoe
- Agricultural machinery