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Tull, Jethro

Name: Jethro Tull

Achievements: Helped lay foundation of modern agriculture

Born: Baptized March 30, 1674; Basildon, Berkshire, England

Died: February 21, 1741; Prosperous Farm, (Hungerford), Berkshire (Aged 66)

Field & Discipline: Agriculture; Agronomist

Language: English

Father: Jethro Tull

Mother: Dorothy

Siblings: None

Spouse: Susanna Smith

Children: Five, of whom : John; 4 daughters

Education: Oxford University; Gray's Inn, London

Major Work:

"Horse-Hoeing Husbandry"

Life & Times:

Tull studied law,  intending to enter politics, but after contracting tuberculosis, decided to take over his father's farm in Oxfordshire.  During a trip to France in the 1690s, he was impressed by the French method of cultivating vineyards, and concluded it was the best method of cultivating land anywhere.

Tull's farm in Oxfordshire, had not been prospering.  His father's farming methods were traditional, based on rigid crop rotation, manuring, and leaving the fields to lie fallow. Tull immediately introduced sainfoin as a forage crop.  To economize on seed, he instructed his laborers, who were used to scattering the seed by hand (broadcasting) to do make channels, sow a small amount of seed, and cover it with care.

Since his workers were reluctant to do this, in 1701 he invented a machine to do it for them: the horse-drawn seed drill.  At about the same time, he made his horse-hoe and his four-coultered plow (a single coulter was the norm.)  Within nine years, using these machines, he was able to abolish the conventional fallow period and to produce good crops at more than average yields.

The Tull "drill" for wheat, described and illustrated in the first folio edition of his book "Horse-hoeing Husbandry" (1733), was drawn by one horse and sowed three rows of seed. 

The three coulters (hoes) were narrow and at the rear of the coulters were passages to guide the seed from the funnels above to the channels in the ground. These coulters, the framework supporting them, and the shafts rested on the ground, and were not carried on the four wheels of the machine.  The two large wheels in front carried the seed-box and dropper unit which fed the center coulter on an axle.  Two smaller wheels at the rear carried the droppers and seed-boxes that fed the two other coulters.  They were placed 14 inches apart and the same distance behind the control coulter so there would be no interference between them.  The dropper unit consisted of the case at the bottom of the seed-box and the notched axle which passed through it.

The axle with its notches and cavities in the periphery, turned with the wheels, received the grain from the boxes above, and dropped it into the funnels.  The passage of grain past the notched dropper was controlled by a brass cover and an adjustable spring.

About 1709, Tull moved to a farm  ("Prosperous") in Berkshire, but lung problems forced him in 1711 to seek a better climate in the south of France and Italy.  Tull returned home in 1714, his health much improved, and started drill husbandry again, adopting some of the methods he had seen in French vineyards during his recuperation.

He was particularly impressed with the French way of pulverizing (or hoeing) the earth between the rows of vines, which seemed to take the place of manuring.  He was correct in believing that hoeing reduced the need for manure and that it increased aeration and the flow of water to plant roots, but he mistakenly believed that earth was the food of plants and that pulverization made it easier for plants to absorb it.

Tull invented a horse-drawn hoe and tried it out at Prosperous Farm, first on turnips and potatoes, then on wheat.  He also plowed his land five times instead of once, greatly improving the light soil, and was able to grow wheat on the same fields for 13 years continuously without manuring.

In the last decade of his life (1731-41), he bowed to the urging of friends like agriculturalist [a pal of] "Turnip" Townshend* and wrote down his agricultural views and experiences.  The result was "The New Horse-ploughing Husbandry, or an Essay on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation", published in 1731, an unsigned work that was later expanded into his "The Horse-hoeing Husbandry, or an Essay on the Principles of Tillage and Vegetation" of 1733.

Tull gradually acquired believers,  most notably agriculturalist [influenced] Duhamel de Monceau* and French philosopher [influenced] Voltaire*, who cultivated his farm at Ferney according to the new husbandry.

Between 1753 and 1761, Monceau produced an exposition of Tull's ideas, "Traite de la Culture des Terres suivant les principes de M. Tull Anglais", which had a huge impact on French agriculture and influenced the work of economist Quesnay*.

In 1822, [edition by] Cobbett* revived interest in Tull and his work when he edited and republished "Horse-Hoeing Husbandry", printing  a second edition in 1829.  Tull's ideas were taken up by many in England, including [influenced] Coke* of Norfolk.

Extra Connections: Influenced [influenced] Condorcet*.

[influenced] Buffon* heard of his work while in England

Assessment: Developed farming methods eventually adopted by large landowners and laid the basis for more modern and efficient farming in Britain

Oneliner: Jethro Tull,  major influence in British agriculture

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