The original Jethro Tull was a 17th century agriculturalist. He is best known for having pioneered the seed drill.
The material below is taken from the book A History of Agriculture in Europe and America by Norman Scott Brien Gras, a Professor of Economic History at the University of Minnesota. The book was published by F.S. Crofts & Co., Publishers in 1925. The excerpt is taken from pg 211:
Jethro Tull, 1674-1741
Although Jethro Tull can hardly be called the morning star of the revolution, he lived and played his part not long after the dawn of the movement. He was educated at Oxford, and for the law at Gray's Inn; and inherited land in the southern part of England. After the fashion of the gentlemen of his day, he made the grand tour on the Continent, learning much about agricultural practices. Before going, he had invented the drill; on his return, he practised pulverizing the soil. By the former he did away with the broadcasting of seed; by the latter he hoped to keep his fields fertile without manure. His main aim was to get the most out of the soil. Sowing seed by scattering it to the wind was wasteful of seed and of hand labor. To obviate these, he invented, or re-invented, a machine that would sow seed in uniform rows and cover up the seed in the rows. Accordingly each plant would have more space to grow, and although there would be fewer plants, the net yield would be greater. Aware that manure implanted the seeds of unwelcome weeds, he thought he had found a substitute in pulverizing the soil. Such pulverization as was necessary he did by frequent hoeing, not by hand but by horse. The result was that planting was so delayed by long-drawn-out cultivation that the crop matured very late, in the case of wheat, so late that it was subject to rusts. Tull's methods were not at once adopted, but ultimately the drill was almost universally used, and frequent cultivation by horse power, especially of turnips, was found to put the land in inating weeds. Tull was an innovator and he made the mistakes of a pioneer. He seems to have thought that plants lived on fine particles of soil, instead of minerals in solution. But he set the example of inquiry, investigation, and invention, which ultimately led to victory. His life was sad. With poor help, stupid laborers, inadequate equipment, he tried to make headway in the face of prejudicious and perhaps malicious compatriots. At the end of his life he could take pride neither in his family affairs nor in the acceptance of his principles of cultivation. But his writings preserved his efforts, were taken up in France, they were translated, discussed, and approved; and finally, indeed, they were appreciated even in his native land.
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