History of agriculture the New Leicester sheep. Machines were invented to improve the efficiency of various agricultural operation, such as Jethro Tull's seed drill of 1701 that mechanised seeding at the correct depth and spacing and Andrew Meikle's threshing machine of 1784. Ploughs were steadily improved, from Joseph Foljambe's Rotherham iron plough in 1730 to James Small's improved "Scots Plough" metal in 1763. In 1789 Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies was producing 86 plough models for different soils. Powered farm machinery began with Richard Trevithick's stationary steam engine, used to drive a threshing machine, in 1812. Mechanisation spread to other farm uses through the
Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill recorded by The Weavers and Makem and Clancy, among many others. One version runs: <poem> Every morning at seven o'clock There's twenty tarriers a workin at the rock The boss comes along and he says, "Keep still And come down heavy on the cast iron drill." "Chorus:" "So drill, ye tarriers, drill" "And drill, ye tarriers, drill" "Oh it's work all day for the sugar in your tay" "Down beyond the railway" "So drill, ye tarriers, drill." Our new foreman is John McCann By God, He was a blamed mean man Last week a premature blast went off And a