Water Power, Agricultural machinery, 1697

Water Power, Agricultural machinery, 1697. Engraving by F H van Houe showing a variety of agricultural devices including a windmill at the top left. In the centre is a Persian Wheel, used to raise water from a stream into a cistern. Below is a machine for sowing corn. Illustration from the fourth edition of 'Systema agriculturae: the mystery of husbandry discovered' by John Worlidge (active 1669-1698), published in London in 1697. This influential work was the first comprehensive and systematic treatise on husbandry and went through five editions in the author's lifetime. Worlidge's attempts to assemble all the written and practical knowledge of the time were only partially successful. He concentrated far more on horticulture and gardening, largely ignoring stock breeding and rearing. ©SSPL/Science Museum