Jethro Tull's Seed Drill

March 1, 1701

A dyspeptic English barrister-turned-farmer, tired of watching laborers scatter seed with their feet, built a machine that sowed in neat rows at measured depth. Tull's drill was mocked by his neighbors and ignored for decades. It would eventually remake European agriculture. By reducing seed waste and enabling horse-drawn hoeing between rows, the device helped launch the British Agricultural Revolution that fed the Industrial one.