Cultivator Uses, Benefits, Agricultural Implements, and Modern Farm Machinery
A cultivator is an agricultural tool or machine that evokes the soil around a crop as it matures in order to promote growth and eliminate weeds. Horse-drawn mowers were first used in the mid-nineteenth century. A farmer with two horses could cultivate up to 6 hectares (15 acres) per day with a machine whose shovels (blades) straddled the grain rows by 1870. With tractor power replacing horses in the twentieth century, the number of rows a single machine could cultivate expanded to match the capacity of multiple-row planters. Shovels are typically short, narrow, slightly curved, pointed steel pieces with polished front surfaces that dig into the earth in proportion to the amount of pressure applied. The type and quantity of gangs used per mounting are determined by crop and soil characteristics. Rotary hoes, which are used for early cultivation of maize, cotton, soybeans, potatoes, and small grain, can have up to 12 sections, each with several hoe wheels, and can be up to 12 meters