Cultivator
Cultivators are farm machines that stir and pulverize soil, either before crops are planted or after the crops have begun growing. Cultivators are used before planting to aerate the soil and prepare a smooth, loose seedbed. Cultivators are used after plants begin growing to kill weeds. Cultivators are designed to mix the soil in careful patterns, sparing the crop plants but disrupting the weeds.
Cultivators are usually either self-propelled or drawn as an attachment behind either a two-wheel tractor or four-wheel tractor. Industrial cultivators can vary greatly in size and shape, from 10 feet wide to 80 feet wide. Different types are used for preparation of fields before planting, and for the control of weeds between row crops.
History of Cultivators
The idea of removing weeds growing in the soil has been around for centuries. It was originally done with hoes or mattocks before cultivators were developed. Cultivators were originally drawn by draft animals (such as horses, mules, or oxen) or were pushed or drawn by people. The powered rotary hoe was first invented by Arthur Clifford Howard who, in 1912, began experimenting with rotary tillage on his father's farm in Australia. Meanwhile, in North America during the 1910s, tractors were evolving away from traction engine-sized monsters toward smaller, lighter, more affordable machines. The Fordson tractor especially had made tractors affordable for small family farms for the first time in history. By 1921, International Harvester had combined motorized cultivating with the other tasks of tractors (tractive power and belt work) to create the Farmall, the general-purpose tractor tailored to cultivating that basically invented the category of row-crop tractors.
Price of Cultivators
Large cultivators cost approximately $20,000.
History of Cultivators
The idea of removing weeds growing in the soil has been around for centuries. It was originally done with hoes or mattocks before cultivators were developed. Cultivators were originally drawn by draft animals (such as horses, mules, or oxen) or were pushed or drawn by people. The powered rotary hoe was first invented by Arthur Clifford Howard who, in 1912, began experimenting with rotary tillage on his father's farm in Australia. Meanwhile, in North America during the 1910s, tractors were evolving away from traction engine-sized monsters toward smaller, lighter, more affordable machines. The Fordson tractor especially had made tractors affordable for small family farms for the first time in history. By 1921, International Harvester had combined motorized cultivating with the other tasks of tractors (tractive power and belt work) to create the Farmall, the general-purpose tractor tailored to cultivating that basically invented the category of row-crop tractors.
Price of Cultivators
Large cultivators cost approximately $20,000.