In the early 1700s, Jethro Tull of England invented a horse-drawn mechanical hoe with three coulters, or hoes, and seed funnels for planting. In 1856 George Esterly patented a straddle row cultivator drawn by two horses.

Robert McCormick, a wealthy Virginia farmer with more than 500 acres of land, was a man of mechanical ingenuity and tinkered with a mechanical reaper for many years without much success.

In the 1830s, Robert's son, Cyrus Hall McCormick, finalized his version of a horse-drawn reaper. The reaper was demonstrated in 1831 and patented by Cyrus in 1834. Together with his brother, McCormick moved to Chicago in 1847 and started the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.

The McCormick reaper sold well and their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant market areas. He developed marketing and sales techniques, including a vast network of trained salesmen able to demonstrate operation of the machines in the field.

McCormick died in Chicago, with his company passing on to his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr. In 1902, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms merged to create the International Harvester Company.

Two of our walk-behind cultivators are I-H (International Harvester) items.

The cultivator removes the weeds between rows of crops. Cultivators can have straight or curved 'teeth', spring 'teeth', or disks. The width of the cultivator can be changed to fit through the rows.

The removal of weeds between the plants was necessary for many reasons. The weeds took water and nutrients from the crop. The weeds also might contaminate the crop at harvest. A cultivator removes the weeds between the rows of crops. Prior to 1800's this was usually with done by hand with a hoe.

By the 1850's hundred of different types of horse drawn cultivators were made. Cultivators have straight or curved tines, spring tines or disks. By the 1890's larger cultivators with seats were available. Gradually, the disk cultivator replaced all of the spike cultivators as it was could be pulled faster with motorized equipment.