Jethro Tull Develops the Seed Drill

English agriculturalist Jethro Tull designed a mechanical seed drill that deposited seeds at controlled depth and spacing through a rotating cylinder with grooves feeding from a hopper to a funnel. The device replaced hand broadcasting, where farmers scattered seeds across plowed soil with uneven results and significant waste. Tull later published his methods in The New Horse Houghing Husbandry in 1731. Widespread adoption took nearly a century, but the seed drill became a foundational technology of the British Agricultural Revolution.