Agriculture in the United Kingdom sixfold by 1650. Improvements in transport, particularly along rivers and coasts, brought beef and dairy products from the north of England to London. The Kingdom of Great Britain was created on 1 May 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union putting into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union. At this time, Jethro Tull, a Berkshire farmer, had recently invented his famous rotating-cylinder seed drill. His 1731 book, "The New Horse Hoeing Husbandry", explained the systems and devices he espoused to improve agriculture. The book had such an impact that its influence can still be seen in
Drill uses a rotating helical screw similar to the Archimedean screw-shaped bit that is common today. The gimlet is also worth mentioning as it is a scaled down version of an auger. In the East, churn drills were invented as early as 221 BC during the Chinese Qin Dynasty, capable of reaching a depth of 1500 m. Churn drills in ancient China were built of wood and labor-intensive, but were able to go through solid rock. The churn drill appears in Europe during the 12th century. In 1835 Isaac Singer is reported to have built a steam powered churn drill based