Jethro Tull
1674-1741
English Inventor
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill, which altered how land was used for agriculture. He also devised ways to aerate fields, eliminating the need for constant fertilization of crops. His writings were dispersed throughout Europe. Tull's innovative techniques and tools influenced agriculturists to adopt his methods and to improve implements. Some historians suggest that Tull was the catalyst for revolutionary changes in British agriculture, which resulted in more efficient land management and higher crop yields.
Tull was born in Basildon, England. Sources do not cite an exact birth date, but records indicate that Tull was baptized on March 30, 1674. He grew up in a rural environment before enrolling at St. John's College at Oxford University. He graduated in 1691. Two years later, Tull began legal studies and was admitted to the bar in 1699. Tull never intended to practice law, envisioning his educational experiences as preparation for a political career. Because of ill health, he abandoned his political ambitions and became a farmer instead. Tull married Susanna Smith in 1699 and they lived on his father's land at Howberry.
Frustrated by his farm workers, who resisted his ideas about planting, Tull decided to create a machine that could operate more productively than human laborers. He adapted the "groove, tongue, and spring in the soundboard of the organ" and parts of other instruments "as foreign to the field as the organ is" and by 1701 had designed and built a seed drill. The name was derived from farmers' jargon; "drilling" referred to sowing beans and peas by hand in furrows.
Tull's device enabled him to plant seeds systematically in rows. As a result, the available soil in fields could be utilized more efficiently to plant more crops than were grown by using standard planting methods. Tull's tool encouraged increased development of fertile land. The space between rows could be cultivated to enhance yields. Sowing seeds with his drill minimized the fallowing requirements for preparing fields for production. The rotary mechanism Tull had developed to build his seed drill became the basis for subsequent sowing tools.
In 1709 Tull relocated to a farm he called "Prosperous." During the spring of 1711, he began traveling throughout Europe in an effort to improve his health. Tull studied Continental agricultural practices, which he experimented with when he returned to England in 1714. He had been especially impressed with French vineyards, where farmers plowed between rows instead of fertilizing the grapevines with manure. Duplicating French techniques on his English farm, Tull successfully grew turnips and potatoes without manure. He cultivated wheat for 13 years consecutively in nonmanured fields.
Tull advocated that farmers should crumble sod in order for air and water to reach plant roots. He invented a horse hoe specifically to achieve such soil pulverization. Visitors who came to Prosperous discussed agricultural methods with Tull and encouraged him to write an account of his work. Tull distributed Horse-hoing Husbandry in 1731 and a revised edition twoyears later. Members of the Private Society of Husbandmen and Planters, however, criticized Tull, saying that his pulverization ideas were without merit. Tull responded to these attacks with notes that were included in another edition, issued in 1743.
Tull also had to deal with the refusal of his own agricultural employees to learn how to use his tools and methods correctly. He died at his farm on February 21, 1741. He willed his property to his four daughters and sister-in-law, leaving his wastrel son only one shilling. His husbandry ideas inspired European farmers to experiment with "Tullian" methods. The noted French agriculturist Duhamel du Monceau annotated a translation of his work and followers of Tull's practices included such figures as Voltaire.
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