Cultivator

Cultivators stir and pulverize the soil, either before planting (to aerate the soil and prepare a smooth, loose seedbed) or after the crop has begun growing (to kill weeds—controlled disturbance of the topsoil close to the crop plants kills the surrounding weeds by uprooting them, burying their leaves to disrupt their photosynthesis or a combination of both).

The basic idea of soil scratching for weed control is ancient and was done with hoes or plough for millennia before any larger or more complex equipment was developed to reduce the manual labor and to speed the work.

Initially using his father's steam tractor engine as a power source, he found that ground could be mechanically tilled without soil-packing occurring, as was the case with normal ploughing.

With fellow apprentice Everard McCleary, he established a company to make his machine, but plans were interrupted by World War I.

Cultivating was somewhat of an afterthought in the Fordson's design, which reflected the fact that even just bringing practical motorized tractive power alone to this market segment was in itself a milestone.

In Australia, by the 1930s, Howard was finding it increasingly difficult to meet a growing worldwide demand for exports of his machines.

He travelled to the United Kingdom, founding the company Rotary Hoes Ltd in East Horndon, Essex, in July 1938.

[4] Branches of this new company subsequently opened in the United States of America, South Africa, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.

In subsequent decades, people overcame this initial imbalance and came to realize that herbicidal weed control has limitations and externalities, and it must be managed intelligently.

It is still widely used, and probably will continue to be indispensable to affordable food production worldwide for the foreseeable future; but its wise management includes seeking alternate methods, such as the traditional standby of mechanical cultivation, where practical.

The largest versions available are about 6 m (20 ft) wide, and require a tractor with an excess of 150 horsepower (110 kW) (PTO) to drive them.

The implement has many shanks mounted on the underside of a metal frame, and small narrow rods at the rear of the machine that smooth out the soil surface for easier travel later when planting.

Row crop cultivators are usually raised and lowered by a three-point hitch and the depth is controlled by gauge wheels.