248 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



double shovel plows were rigged on a two-wheel sulky, 

 thus enabling the operator with two horses to cultivate 

 both sides of a row at one time. The corn cultivator 

 is still built essentially on this principle with many 

 types of shovels and improvements for ease in con- 

 trolling." 



One-horse shovel cultivators are still quite extensively 

 used in the cotton-belt. They are usually equipped with 

 many small points, or with various forms of heel-scrapes, 

 or sweeps. These one-horse implements are gradually 

 being replaced by two-horse cultivators. The double 

 cultivators are made either with handles, as walking 

 cultivators, or with a seat, as riding cultivators. Two- 

 rowed cultivators equipped with four gangs of shovels 

 and drawn by three horses are little used as yet, in the 

 cotton-belt. These implements are rapidly coming into 

 favor with the corn growers of the central prairie 

 states. 



The kind of shovels that should be used on corn culti- 

 vators is determined .somewhat by the character of the 

 soil. The object should be to break the soil between the 

 rows thoroughly to the proper depth without leaving it 

 in ridges. This result is usually most satisfactorily ac- 

 complished by decreasing the size of the. shovels and in- 

 creasing their number. Sweeps give good results on 

 friable soils. They vary in width from six to thirty inches. 

 When used they should be so- ad justed as to allow the soil 

 to pass over them and fall level behind the cultivator. 

 Any form of shovel that will do good work on a single- 

 cultivator can be readily attached to a double-cultivator. 



Disk cultivators, when properly operated, do excellent 

 work, especially on soils that are in poor physical condition 

 and need pulverizing. 



