23. George Washington and the seed drill
As a farmer George Washington was an innovator, converting his Mount Vernon farms to grow alternative crops when tobacco depleted the soil. From the new crops, chiefly grains, he created new products, including beers, whiskey, and flour ground in his own mills. He once recorded an entry in his farm diary in which he referred to a seed drill of his own design, which “answered very well in the field in the lower pasture”. From this reference came the belief that George Washington invented what he called a “Drill Plow”, and while his shops fabricated the device “of my own invention” his reference was to the design, rather than the farming implement decades-old known as the seed drill.
Washington was familiar with seed drills, through his extensive research and correspondence with other farmers, in Europe and America. A horse-drawn seed drill which planted seeds in rows in a manner similar to that described by Washington was invented in England by an agriculturist of name Jethro Tull. The seed drill allowed seeds to be planted at the correct depth and distance, and was far more efficient than simply tossing them by hand (broadcasting) or hand digging and planting individual seeds. By 1760 Washington was an avid practitioner of the theories and methods espoused by Jethro Tull, including the use of implements invented earlier in the century by the Englishman.