Seed drill

1902 model 12-run seed drill produced by Monitor Manufacturing Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota

A sowing machine which uses the seed drill concept

A seed drill is a sowing device that sows the seed precisely in the soil at proper depth and distance. Then it covers them with soil. It protects the seeds from birds and saves time and labour.

Jethro Tull is widely thought of as having invented the seed drill, though earlier the Sumerians used a single-tube seed drill, and the Chinese had also used a multi-tube seed drill.^[1] The use of a seed drill can improve the ratio of crop yield (seeds harvested per seed planted) by as much as nine times.

Seed Drill Media

Filling a feed-box of a seed drill, Canterbury Agricultural College farm, 1948
A seed drill is filled with grass seeds. Ystad in Sweden 2025.
- Drilling a field on the Canterbury Agricultural College farm in 1948.
Modern air seeder and hoe drill combination

References

↑ Temple, Robert; Joseph Needham (1986). The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention. New York: Simon and Schuster<Based on the works of Joseph Needham>{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

Chinese double-tube seed drill, published by Song Yingxing in the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia of 1637

[1] Temple, Robert; Joseph Needham (1986). The Genius of China: 3000 years of science, discovery and invention. New York: Simon and Schuster<Based on the works of Joseph Needham>{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[1]