When was seed drill invented

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List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Mary Bellis. Inventions Expert. Mary Bellis covered inventions and inventors for ThoughtCo for 18 years. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell.

Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Bellis, Mary. There was a wheel-driven ratchet that sprayed the seed out evenly as the Seed Drill was pulled across the field.

Since earliest times seeds had always been sown by hand. People who worked on the land would walk over the fields randomly scattering handfuls of grain. Jethro Tull invented a machine which greatly helped to increase the harvest yield by planting seeds in straight lines.

Jethro Tull was born in Basildon, Berkshire in He did not start out as an agricultural engineer. He studied law and graduated from Oxford University in Although he was admitted to the bar in the same year, he never practised law. Tull was far more interested in the farming methods employed on his land, which he called Prosperous Farm.

Tull travelled throughout Europe to study new farming techniques. Upon his return in , he perfected both his system and machinery. He pulverised the earth between the rows, believing that this released nutrients would act as a substitute for manure.

While apparently successful - he grew wheat in the same field for 13 successive years without manuring - it is more likely that he merely prevented weeds from overcrowding and competing with the seed.

Tull's other innovations included a plough with blades set in such a way that grass and roots were pulled up and left on the surface to dry. Eventually, as agricultural improvement became fashionable, more interest began to be taken in Tull's ideas. In , he published his book, 'The New Horse Hoeing Husbandry', detailing his system and its machinery.

It caused great controversy at the time, and arguments continued for another century before his eventual vindication. While several other mechanical seed drills had also been invented, Tull's complete system was a major influence on the agricultural revolution and its impact can still be seen in today's methods and machinery. Search term:. Read more.