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Old 06-10-2003, 03:42 PM
FarmerDill
 
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Default High Wheel Cultivators

Does anyone here use a high-wheel cultivator? I've not been able to find
any locally; the closest "in-person" ones that I could locate were 400
miles away, in Spokane, Washington. Unfortunately, that was last spring.
I lost the bookmark and haven't been able to find their page again. :-(

I have found sources on the web but am hesitant to order such an important
tool without actually seeing it. I've been disappointed in the past with
"modern" tools and much prefer to buy older ones (that were actually
manufactured in this country when we still built things like that and
built them well!). I'm supposed to get my grandmother's which has no
handles left (damaged in storage the last 20 years). That would be my
preference, to restore that, but if my youngest half-sister finds out that
I'll be picking it up, she'll take it home though she would never use it.
(She's a piece of work!) Not having seen it for years, I'm not sure if
all the attachments are there any longer (she has lived with my mother for
about 20 years and is now in a nursing home, something I'm not at all
pleased about but I had no say).

Since I really do want a good cultivator, it seemed prudent to locate one
that I can rely on in the case that I cannot get that one or it doesn't
have all its attachments.

Does anyone have one, use one or have comments on them?

After viewing at least two dozen web sites, it seems that Red Hill
General Store has the best selection. They offer Earthway and Beaver with
attachments for Ames (puzzling since that doesn't seem to be a brand they
offer) Prices range from $70 to $120 depending on the height and brand
(and supplier), before shipping costs. Another question I will have is
what height seems to work best. I doubt there is a manufacturer's name on
Grandma's since she bought it well before 1950 so that would be no help.

Glenna

Have one that dates date to about 1900. Had to make new handles from half inch
galvanized water pipe. Easier than making them from wood. They do an excellent
job on a garden laid out in rows. Not many years ago, Sears, and Montgomery
Wards
sold a lot of them and occasionally I see one in a seed and feed store, Lots of
seed Mail order seed companies still offer them, Them small rototillers have
just about displaced them however. Variously called wheel hoes, push plows or
Kentucky cultivators they are excellent for laying off rows, and close
cultivation after using a tiller to break out the middles, Ther is a knack to
using them however. You have to use them with a hoe motion. Most newbies try to
push them steadily across a garden and give up panting in short order. The
moldboard and the 2 " colter are the most useful implements, Nevr found a great
deal of use for the 5 tine cultivator except for small crps like emerging
beets,