TILLAGE MACHINERY QI 



THE CULTIVATOR 



129. Development. 'The modern cultivator, which is a very 

 efficient aid to the cultivation of growing plants, has developed 

 under the addition of animal power from a kind of crude hoe 

 used in the early days. The original single shovel was changed 

 for the double shovel, this in turn was supplanted by the 

 straddle-row cultivator, and even the latter was increased in 

 size until in some cases the modern cultivator will take two 

 rows at a time. A horse hoe and drill was invented by Jethro 

 Tull early in the eighteenth century, but this was never a popular 

 machine. Until 1860 country blacksmiths generally made the 

 double shovels used by farmers. A patent was granted to 

 George Esterly, April 22. 1856, on a straddle-row cultivator for 

 two horses, and his was the first of the line of implements in 

 the manufacture of which millions are now invested. 



130. Classification of cultivators. 



Single- and double-shovel cultivators. 

 One-horse cultivators. 



Five- and nine-tooth cultivators. 

 Straddle-row cultivators. 



Walking 

 Tongue, 

 Tongueless. 



Riding. 



Combined. 



Single-row. 



Double-row. 



Surface cultivators. 



131. Single- and double-shovel cultivators, although 

 used very extensively at one time, have their use con- 

 fined almost entirely to garden and cotton culture. 



132. The one-horse cultivator is used largely in gar- 

 dening and for cultivating corn too high to be cultivated 

 with the straddle-row cultivator. It may be provided 

 with almost any number of teeth from 5 to 14. The teeth 

 may vary from the harrow tooth designed for producing 

 a very fine tilth, to the wide reversible shovels used on 



