Horticultural societies are preindustrial societies in which people plant seeds and cultivate crops rather than relying solely on foraging for naturally available foods. These societies typically use simple hand tools, such as hoes and digging sticks, to cultivate small plots of land for subsistence. Unlike agrarian societies that employ more advanced agricultural technologies like plows and irrigation, horticultural societies generally have a lower level of technological development and a less intensive form of agriculture. Horticultural societies often practice slash-and-burn agriculture, where vegetation is cleared and burned to create fertile land for planting, which is then abandoned after a few years as the soil becomes depleted, and the group moves to a new area. These societies tend to be more settled than hunter-gatherer societies but may still exhibit some degree of mobility.