Inventor: Jethro Tull

The seed drill was invented in 1701 by and Englishman named Jethro Tull. Studied in agriculture and the law, he was part of the Norfolk system, an early form of association that applied science to agriculture. Tull thought the old way of sowing seeds, which was to scatter the seeds on the ground by hand, was rather inefficient and wasteful, as many of the seeds did not take root. So, using the foot pedals of his local church organ, Tull built the first prototype of the seed drill. The seed drill managed to sow the seeds in uniform rows and cover them back up. Placing them in such uniform rows let the farmers weed between the rows of the seedlings during growth, which helped improve the amount of yield.

How? Basically, the seed drill simplified three separate tasks into one: drilling, sowing, and covering the seeds with soil. The seeds would be poured into the two hoppers that were connected to a spring-loaded mechanism. As the seed drill was designed for animal labor, the horse would pull on it—and when the horse pulled on it, a wooden gear would turn, fuss with the spring-loaded mechanism to let relatively equal amounts of seed to be dropped into the soil at regular intervals. The plow and harrow would then break up the ground, creating homes for the seeds complete with roofing. The seed drill was capable of sowing three rows of seed at a time.

Though there are no clear facts about how this idea for England traveled to America, it is not hard to imagine the process. Agriculture was the major part of people’s lives back then, and news about a new machine that took care of drilling, sowing, and covering seeds should have traveled fast. Perhaps an Englishman brought one and introduced it to the states when he was moving to America. Or perhaps an American on a visit to England, took note of the idea and brought the plans of building one back to America. In any case, there is no doubt that Tull’s seed drill had an enormous impact on the agricultural society as a whole—America must have picked it up and proceeded to expand upon it. The amount that was saved by the seed drill would have, most likely, contributed to the American population’s activities. It gave more free time to the farmers to perhaps go about ways on improving farming, study, pick up on other small jobs, or engage in politics.

Pictures from: http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/
hutchinson/images/0008n113.jpg and http://www.saburchill.
com/history/chapters/IR/images/0006.jpg

Sources:

Oakes, Elizabeth H. "Tull, Jethro." A to Z of STS Scientists. New York, NY. Facts on File, Inc., 2002. Science Online. <www.factsonfile.com>.

• This website provided me with information about the inventor of the seed drill as well as how the seed drills works.

About.com. Jethro Tull. 2 Jan. 2004 <http://inventors.about.
com/library/inventors/bljethrotull.htm>.

• This website gave me the significances of the seed drill.

Tiscali. Encyclopaedia Tiscali. 2 Jan. 2004 <http://www.tiscali.co.
uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0006239.html>.

• This website gave me simple instructions on how the seed drill works.