Figures showing the parts of English agriculturist Jethro Tull's seed drill in his 1733 book, Horse-hoeing Husbandry. Tull is best known for inventing a seed drill in 1701 which used a rotary mechanism to plant seeds in rows. This meant that less weeding needed to be done. Tull also stressed the need to allow water and air to reach the plants' roots and improved the design of the horse-drawn plough to accomplish this.