A drag harrow, a type of

spring-tooth harrow A spring-tooth harrow, sometimes called a drag harrow, is a type of harrow, and specifically a type of tine harrow. It is a largely outdated piece of farm equipment. It uses many flexible iron teeth mounted in rows to loosen the soil before plant ...

, is a largely outdated type of

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

cultivation implement that is used to smooth the ground as well as loosen it after it has been

plow A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

ed and

packed Data structure alignment is the way data is arranged and accessed in computer memory. It consists of three separate but related issues: data alignment, data structure padding, and packing. The CPU in modern computer hardware performs reads and ...

. It uses many flexible

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

teeth usually arranged into three rows. It has no

hydraulic Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...

functionality and has to be raised/adjusted with one or multiple manual levers. It is a largely outdated piece of

farm equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

, having been replaced by more modern

disc harrow A disc harrow is a harrow whose cutting edges are a row of concave metal discs, which may be scalloped or set at an oblique angle. It is an agricultural implement that is used to till the soil where crops are to be planted. It is also used to c ...

s and hydraulically operated field cultivators.

Uses

A drag harrow is used to loosen and even out soil after it has been

ed and packed. It pulls up large rocks which may then be picked up manually and put in the tractor's stone box to remove from the field. The drag harrow also kills some weeds that may be present, but it is not very efficient in doing so due to its highly flexible teeth, hence it is not one of its primary functions.

In modern times

The drag harrow is not often used in modern farming as other harrows have proven to be more suitable, such as the

. Another reason they are not often used is because they cannot be controlled hydraulically, meaning that the operator is required to dismount from the

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

to adjust it or unclog it. However it is used as a drag behind several other implements such as a rod weeder. Due to their low cost and simplicity, drag harrows are still used widely by small farmers.

References

{{Reflist Agricultural machinery

Uses

In modern times

See also

References