Tools

Tools In The Medieval Times

     Tools in the Medieval times are very different from modern tools. Many tools used for farming were hand-held tools such as scythes, sickles, spades, and axes. A scythe was a sharp blade attached to a long handle, allowing easy harvesting. A scythe was mainly used for harvesting corn, barley, or oats, but could also be used for chopping large patches of grass. A sickle, much like a scythe, was used to cut corn crops. This tool had a blade attached to a shorter handle with the blade being much more rounded then the scythe, allowing quicker swinging from a shorter distance. The blade on a sickle could be smooth-edged or saw-toothed, allowing different cuts depending on the material.

Wheeled Plows made life on the farm much easier for farmers
who could afford horses or oxen.

     In some cases, richer farmers could afford to buy an ox or horse to help with ploughing, but this was rare due to the fact that most farmers were peasants and could not afford such high farming equipment. Oxen and horses were a very powerful tool during the Medieval times. Since tractors and combine harvesters hadn't been invented yet, farmers who could afford horses or oxen used moldboard ploughs, wheeled ploughs, and harrows for easier farming. Harrows were tools used for turning over soil and covering seeds. These tools were hooked on a horse or ox and dragged along the field with their specially made iron or wooden teeth, allowing the soil to be flipped.

Tools In Modern Time

     Tools in modern time have advanced greatly since the Medieval times. Tools like the combine harvester, tractors, plows, pest-killers, bale movers and planters make modern life way easier for people in the farming industries. Tractors are very significant to modern day farming. Many machines and tools are towed behind a tractor and used on the farm. Plows, bale movers, fertilizer spreaders, and planters are mostly pulled behind a tractor, allowing easy use of these devices.

     Pest-killers have made a huge impact in the farming industry. Insects like White Grubs, Corn Ear-worms, Flea Beatles, and Cut-worms cause damage in crops each year. Pest-killers have greatly reduced the amount of crop killing insects in the modern farming industries.