Prev | Current Page 280 | Next

Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

"Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall"

The ordinary breaking
plow, characterized by a long sloping moldboard, is the best known
implement for breaking all kinds of sod. (See Fig. 7a a.) Where the
sod is very light, as on the far western prairies, the more ordinary
forms of plows may be used. In still other sections, the dry-farm
land is covered with a scattered growth of trees, frequently pinion
pine and cedars, and in Arizona and New Mexico the mesquite tree and
cacti are to be removed. Such clearing has to be done in accordance
with the special needs of the locality.
Plowing
Plowing, or the turning over of the soil to a depth of from seven to
ten inches for every crop, is a fundamental operation of
dry-farming. The plow, therefore, becomes one of the most important
implements on the dry-farm. Though the plow as an agricultural
implement is of great antiquity, it is only within the last one
hundred years that it has attained its present perfection. It is a
question even to-day, in the minds of a great many students, whether
the modern plow should not be replaced by some machine even more
suitable for the proper turning and stirring of the soil.


Pages:
268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292