Technology Adaptation: Agricultural Revolution in 17th–19th-Century Britain 277It is rather surprising that given all this evidence of experiments with new
crops there is relatively little on mixed or multiple cropping. The practice was
certainly common in the Middle Ages, with cereals grown together with other
cereals and/or legumes (Pretty, 1990c). Sometimes the mixtures were both more
productive and less risky than the individual constituents of the mix. Yet limited
evidence from early 18th-century probate inventories in Essex does indicate that
about a third of all farmers chose to grow various mixes of barley, oats, peas and
vetches (Steer, 1950).
Farmers did swap seeds to maintain genetic diversity. In Suffolk it was com-
mon for farmers on light sandy soils near the coast to swap seed corn with those on
heavier soils of central Suffolk, thus avoiding merchants, who were suspected of
mixing of seed stocks in their stores (Evans, 1960). In 1821 Biddell planted one
field to wheat in four strips, the first with wheat from a Mr Fuller, then a Scotch
variety from Mr Elys, the next to a North Country variety, and the last to ‘wheat
of my own growth’ (Biddell, 1821–24). Later, in 1823, the wheat grown is his
own, Scotch wheat from Mr Branson of Stromland, Kentish Red wheat from Mr
Catlins of Battley Abbey, and another red variety from Mr Dicksons of Codden-
ham (Biddell, 1820–28).
Experiments with sowing techniques
Farmers also experimented with methods of seed sowing by comparing broadcast-
ing the seed by hand, dibbling by making holes in the soil into which the requisite
number of seeds were dropped, and drilling with newly invented seed drills. The
amount of seed and spacing are important because if too little seed is sown then
available water, nutrient and light resources are not fully used, and so can be cap-
tured by weed plants; but if too much seed is sown the crop plants then compete
against each other, and though the weeds are suppressed yields also decline. The
seed drill offered efficient weed control by evenly spacing the plants and so reduc-
ing seed requirement – for cereals to 5–15 per cent and turnips to 5–10 per cent
of that for broadcast or dibbling (Wilkes, 1981).
The seed drill was invented in about 1600, and effective designs were patented
by many farmers, including Bailey, Cooke, Tull, Young, Amos, Blaikie and Garrett
(Wilkes, 1981). But technical shortcomings meant they diffused neither rapidly
nor smoothly; there were problems with maintaining an even seed flow, balancing
the strength of the machine against weight and the expense of production. Reports
to the Board of Agriculture and in Annals of Agriculture suggest that drill hus-
bandry was being widely experimented with at the end of the 18th century, but
was only common in parts of Northumberland, Durham, Suffolk and Norfolk.
There were still so few machines by the early 1800s that contract drillers became
common – Suffolk farmers hired their drills with skilled labourers to farmers in
Cumberland and Scotland (Wilkes, 1981).
During the agricultural revolution drilling was continually tested against the
other techniques, all of which were often practised side by side on the same farm.