The horse drawn seed drill was invented by agriculturist Jethro Tull in England about 1701 to sow seeds in neat rows. In the mid 1800s, George Van Brunt developed the American model which covered the seeds before birds got to them. Van Brunt merged with John Deere & Co. in 1911.
Seed drills plant shallow. Normally the ground is fielded once or twice, then seeds drilled. This 12 foot Fallbrook survivor may have been built in the 1950s.
For more information on Seed Drills, see the Wikipedia article.