Breaking the Prairie 



" Good, here comes Lars," said I, and we both 

 started off to meet the great lumbering machine 

 and pilot its driver clear of the soft, boggy places. 

 These heavy engines can usually travel over 

 the prairie if they keep to the harder ground, 

 but if they get bogged in a hollow after heavy 

 rain, long delay may ensue. 



In ploughing and breaking, the go-ahead West 

 presses gasolene, i.e. petrol, into its service, 

 besides horses, ponies, and oxen, and even, on 

 some occasions, a cow. The use of power for 

 this purpose is intimately connected with thresh- 

 ing, and from the settler's point of view I hope 

 to refer to it in a later chapter. 



We felt it was a financial plunge for us, with 

 our limited capital ; but after the slow work with 

 the bulls it was great to watch the five fourteen- 

 inch ploughs, dragged by the twenty-five-horse 

 engine, turning over the rich chocolate earth, 

 the work going pretty well now, after the rain. 



There were still stones here and there just 



below the surface, and it was needful for one 



I to stand on the wooden platform and handle 



the levers which raise each plough separately if 



needed, and Tom undertook this. 



The engine travelled at a fast walking pace, 

 and the width of dark earth rapidly widened. 

 Delays, however, often occurred, the ploughs 



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