ARID AGRICULTURE. 49 



to be fall plowed. The spring season is usually 

 the most busy one and especially is this so at 

 high altitudes where the spring work must be 

 done in a very short time. Having the plowing 

 out of the way by doing it in the fall, enables the 

 farmer to get his crop in early in the spring, and 

 it leaves the soil in the best condition for his seed 

 bed. Small seeds as alfalfa and grains do much 

 better if they are planted on plowed ground that 

 has become fairly compact. Plowing for pota- 

 toes or root crops where the soil is compact 

 should be done immediately before the time of 

 planting. Plowing for fall-sown grains, under 

 the two-year fallow system, is better in fall if 

 possible or it may be done in spring or early 

 summer. 



The moldboard plow will do better work than 

 the disc. On this account we strongly recom- 

 mend the use of moldboard plows for first break- 

 ing the sod. Disc plows have come to stay, and 

 while they do not do good enough work on sod, 

 they give excellent results for stubble or other 

 old ground, and the draft is easier than with the 

 moldboard plow. The disc is also important to 

 the dry farmer because with it, he may plow soils 

 so dry that the old form of plows could not be 

 made to stay in the ground. The main difficulty 

 with the disc plow is not so much in its use as in 

 its misuse. Nearly every one tries to cut too 

 wide a furrow with their discs, which results in 



