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
Down-the-hole drill as the system basically relied on gravity. Debris from the hole was baled out using a baling tube with a clack valve, which was periodically dropped on a winch to capture the slurry, which was then brought to the top of the hole to be discharged. It was only when the DTH system came along that many of the problems associated with the other systems were overcome - with the DTH system the energy source is constantly behind the drill bit, the drill tubes (or drill string) are rigid being only slightly less in diameter than the drill bit, copious