GREEN MANURING AND E^^^WA^X 51 



six inches wide, two to three inches deep, and this broad, 

 thin ribbon-like strip of prairie sod would be laid over 

 smooth and flat as a strip of carpet. The aim was to cut 

 and turn it as thin and wide and flat as possible and have 

 it hang together, and be fairly inverted, each succeeding 

 furrow lying nicely down in the preceding one, so that 

 few spaces would be left for grass to grow up to the sur- 

 face, with a depth that should be just under the main 

 roots of the grass, generally from two to three inches. 



The plowing was generally done in spring or early 

 summer, in order that the vegetable matter might be- 

 come decayed for sustaining the wheat, corn, or other 

 crop that might be planted upon it ; or in the fall, if the 

 settler then first entered upon the land, and thus be 

 ready for an early spring crop, as soon as the frost was 

 out of the way. It was always a pleasant, satisfactory 

 occupation to hold or follow the huge breaking-up plow, 

 drawn steadily along by the stalwart team, as there was 

 always such a sense or feeling of conquest, of subjugation. 



PLOWING PRAIRIE LAND THE PRESENT WAY. 



But now these things are somewhat changed, and re- 

 cently a better and more elaborate mode has been 

 adopted, as thus described in a communication to the 

 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, as follows : 



"At Schuyler, Nebraska, West of Omaha, J. T. 

 Clarkson showed some fields of prairie prepared for 

 wheat which were broken up by him in the spring ; he 

 first turned over the virgin sod, about three inches deep, 

 in the usual way ; then a second plow followed in the 

 furrow and took up about an inch more of the soil and 

 threw it over the inverted sod ; this, being carefully har- 

 rowed, filled up the spaces between the sods and fur- 

 nished a fine soil seed-bed for the grain." 



"At Marshall, Minnesota, E. S. Youmans treated a 

 part of his land thus : He broke it up on May tenth ; 



