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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

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

The
moldboard plow is, everything considered, the most satisfactory plow
for dry-farm purposes. A plow with a moldboard possessing a short
abrupt curvature is generally held to be the most valuable for
dry-farm purposes, since it pulverizes the soil most thoroughly, and
in dry-farming it is not so important to turn the soil over as to
crumble and loosen it thoroughly. Naturally, since the areas of
dry-farms are very large, the sulky or riding plow is the only kind
to be used. The same may be said of all other dry-farm implements.
As far as possible, they should be of the riding kind since in the
end it means economy from the resulting saving of energy.
The disk plow has recently come into prominent use throughout the
land. It consists, as is well known, of one or more large disks
which are believed to cause a smaller draft, as they cut into the
ground, than the draft due to the sliding friction upon the
moldboard. Davidson and Chase say, however, that the draft of a disk
plow is often heavier in proportion to the work done and the plow
itself is more clumsy than the moldboard plow. For ordinary dry-farm
purposes the disk plow has no advantage over the modern moldboard
plow.


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