146 



MECHAiaCS. 



weeds, stubble, or manure. Yarioiis forms of teeth are 

 used, according to the nature of the work, and they aro 

 made of steel or cast-iron. The steel teeth, represented 

 in fig. 152, are well adapted for cultivating the rows of 

 Indian com and other hoed crops, where the soil is al- 



Fig. 15G. 



Claw-toothed cultivator for hard ground. 



ready moderately mellow. For harder soils, the teeth 

 should be in the form of claws, as shown in fig. 156, their 

 sharp, wedge-form points penetrating and loosening the 

 earth with comparative ease. An efficient cultivator is 

 made by using both kinds of teeth in the same implement, 

 placing the claws forward for breaking the hard earth, and 

 the broader teeth behind for stirring it. 



Steel plates, with sharp or " duck-feet " edges screwed 

 at the lower ex- Fig. 15t. 



tremitics of the 

 teeth, (fig. 157) 

 are useful for par- 

 ing or cutting the 

 roots of weeds; 

 and formed like 

 tlie mould-board of a plow, they are used for throwing the 

 mellow earth toward the row, or, when reversed, from it. 



Alden's Thill Cultivator is furnished with fixed thills, 

 extending backwards from the handles. The whole im- 

 plement thus runs with remarkable steadiness and great 

 efficiency, and the driver, by bearing on the handles, 



