148 WHEAT 



equipment. It is important, therefore, that they 

 should begin right and make all their work count 

 towards producing good crops. The success or 

 failure of a new settler may often depend upon the 

 method employed in the preparation of the land 

 for the first crop. Hence, the question of breaking 

 is of the utmost importance. 



BREAKING PRAIRIE SOD 



New settlers as a rule are anxious to sow every 

 acre possible, regardless of how or when the break- 

 ing was done. Breaking done before July 1, 

 while the soil is moist and in good plowing con- 

 dition will usually produce a good crop of wheat, 

 or other small grain the following season; but 

 as a rule such land will fail to produce a profitable 

 crop the second season after breaking because of 

 the dry, undecayed and unfavorable physical 

 condition of the soil. Sod broken after July 1st 

 will usually remain dry and unrotted and the 

 planting of late breaking, the first season after 

 breaking, often results in crop failure and such 

 land may remain in bad physical condition and 

 unproductive for several seasons, if continuously 

 cropped. 



BREAKING AND BACKSETTING 



Early shallow breaking and backsetting 2 to 4 

 inches deeper than the breaking is the best and 

 most successful method of preparing new land 

 for wheat on the western Canadian prairies. In 

 some areas where the sod is thin and the soil is 

 light, single early breaking 5 or 6 inches deep, 



