CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VII. 



Breaking the Virgin Prairie 121 



91. Why We Till Prairie Sod. 92. How Moisture is 

 Stored and Conserved in New Land. 93. Killing the 

 Native Prairie Plants. 94. Preparation of the Seed Bed. 

 95. Some Desirable Practices in "Breaking" Prairie 

 Sod. 96. Break Early to Obtain Maximum Yields. 97. 

 Plow all the Land. 98. Turn the Furrow Over Flat. 

 99. Pack or Plank after Breaking. 100. Disc Deep Break- 

 ing as soon as Possible after it can be done without Turn- 

 ing up Sods. 101. Cultivate Sufficiently during the 

 Season to Prevent the Growth of Native Plants. 102. 

 To Control Creeping-Rooted Grasses Break Early and 

 Backset. 103. Don't Backset if Sod has not Rotted 

 104. Land Intended to be Backset Should be Broken 

 Shallow; that not to be Backset, Deeper. 105. Harrow 

 and Pack Backsetting. 106. "Scrub" Land must be 

 Treated Somewhat Differently. 107. Leave Breaking 

 Uncropped until the Following Season. 108. The "Break- 

 ing" up of Cultivated Grass Land. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Preparing Park Belt Land for its First Crop .... 136 



109. Location and Extent.- 110. General Characteristics. 

 111. Climatic Conditions 112. Character of Vegeta- 

 tion. 113. Methods of Removing "Scrub". 114. Plowing 

 Scrub Land. 115. Surface Tillage After Plowing. 116. 

 Cost of "Scrubbing" and "Breaking". 117. The Choice 

 of the First and Subsequent Crops. 118. The Best Sys- 

 tem of Farming. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Tillage of Stubble Land 146 



119. The Causes of Low Yields. 120. The Control of 

 Soil Moisture. 121. The Control of Weeds, Grasses and 

 Shrubs. 122. Securing a Good Seed Bed. 123. Impor- 

 tance of "Available" Plant Food. 124. The Stubble a 

 Nuisance, Yet Important. 125. Subsoil Moisture Must 

 be kept Available to Plant Roots. 126. Some Common 

 Methods of Preparing Stubble I ./and for a Crop. 127. 

 Results of Some Tillage Experiments at the University 

 of Saskatchewan. 128. The Necessity for Plowing Grassy 

 Stubble. 129. The Desirability of "Working Down" 

 Plowed Land as soon as Possible after Plowing. 130. 

 The Furrow Slice should be Placed Firmly Against the 



