Jethro Tull (1674-1741) experimented with new farming techniques and invented mechanical agricultural equipment. He demonstrated on his farm near Hungerford, England, that planting seeds in rows and tilling and hoeing increased production and profits. Hull wrote two editions of The Horse-Hoeing Husbandry, which spread his ideas to other farmers and contributed greatly to the Agricultural Revolution.

Tull was born to Jethro and Dorothy Tull, in Basildon, Berkshire, England, and baptized there on March 30, 1674. He grew up on a country estate. At the age of 17, he went to Oxford to study at St. John's College, but he left before graduating. While a student in London, Tull became a musician. He learned how to play the organ and understood how it operated mechanically--knowledge he would later apply to his seed-drill invention. In 1693 he became a law student at Gray's Inn and also studied for two years at Staple Inn. Tull...