24 DEY FARMING IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



The spike-toothed harrow is also used ahnost universally, not only 

 as a supplement to the disk harrow but also to kill weeds and break 

 the surface crust after rains. 



In addition to the smoothing harrow for finely pulverizing the 

 surface soil, some farmers have used with advantage a plank drag, 

 usually of home construction, made of three or four planks fastened 

 together rigidly, one behind another, and with the edges overlapping 

 like the weatherboards of a house. This implement crushes the 

 hard lumps and tends to level the land at the same time. For still 

 further smoothing and pulverizing the seed bed a brush harrow is 

 sometimes used. This, too, is of home construction. It is made of 

 brush rigidly fastened to a plank or log in such a way that the loose 

 ends of the brush bear on the soil, acting much like a coarse broom. 

 This brush harrow, when used after a plank drag, leaves the surface 

 soil in excellent tilth. , 



For preparing new land for the plow, some sort of implement 

 is often needed to remove the sagebrush. For this purpose a com- 

 mon railroad rail is often used, with a team hitched to each end and 

 the rail dragged sideways across the land, breaking down the brush. 

 This may be followed by a heavy rake, which gathers up the loosened 

 brush into piles or windrows for burning. Several other implements 

 have been devised for removing sagebrush, among them a heavy form 

 of revolving hayrake, which breaks down and partly collects the 

 brush in one operation. 



MAINTENANCE OF A CLEAN SUMMER FALLOW. 



The term " summer fallow " is used with different meanings in 

 various parts of the country. In the Great Plains area, especially in 

 the northern part, it is applied to the practice of letting the land lie 

 idle and permitting the growth of weeds durii;g the spring months, so 

 that a plowing in June will not only kill these weeds but by turning 

 them under add some much-needed humus to the soil. This June 

 plowing also brings to the surface more weed seeds, which soon germi- 

 nate and may be destroyed subsequently either by surface tillage or 

 by fall plowing. The chief object of the summer fallow as used in 

 the Great Plains area is rather to free the land from weeds than to 

 conserve the moisture. In other sections of the country the term 

 " fallow " is applied to the practice of leaving the land entirely 

 undisturbed either for the whole or a part of the year. In the Great 

 Basin, however, the summer fallow is used chiefly for moisture 

 conservation. 



As has been pointed out, the bulk of the precipitation of this region 

 comes in the autumn, winter, and spring months, the summer months 

 being almost free from rain. It is therefore possible to establish early 



103 



