140 Practical Farming 



put on the market in various forms. In this plow the 

 turning is done by a rolUng disk of steel set diagonally to 

 the Hne of draft. As yet there is no prospect that this 

 style of plow will entirely supersede the moldboard plow, 

 since it has not yet been adapted to the turning of a sod 

 nor the plowing of land that is quite soft. But where the 

 soil is too dry and hard for the moldboard plow to be used 

 at all, the disk, with a strong team, will break it since, 

 unhke the moldboard plow it has no tendency to jump out 

 of the furrow. So, at present it seems that the main use 

 of the disk plow is to enable the farmer to plow when he 

 otherwise could not do so because of dry weather. 



Modem farm implement makers are getting more and 

 more to providing all tillage implements with seats so 

 that the workman can ride, and thus relieve the farmer 

 of a great deal of the hardest work on the farm, following 

 the plow and cultivator. The two-horse cultivators are a 

 great advance on the old single-horse cultivator, not only 

 because the operator can ride, but because one man can 

 do the work that required two men with the one-horse 

 cultivator, and thus a great saving of labor is made, and 

 the work is better done. 



The disk principle has also been introduced into the 

 riding cultivator, and for many purposes that disks are 

 an advantage, as they pull out no sod or trash that may 

 be in the ground. But cultivators with small shovel teeth 

 are still the favorites with most farmers. The fact that 

 shallow and level cultivation is an advantage in the reten- 

 tion of moisture in the soil and as a preventive of damage 

 to the roots, has led to the implement termed the weeder, 

 similar in general form to a hay rake but with flattened 



