The Value of the Disk Harrow 



By T. S. PARSONS 



Agronomist, University of Wyoming Experiment Station 





Few farmers realize the importance of 

 the disk harrow as a labor saver and as 

 an improver of the seed bed, to say 

 nothing of the various other uses to which 

 it can be put upon the farm. 



To the farmer of Wyoming, the disk 

 harrow is a valuable implement. In this 

 state where farming is carried on under 

 so many different conditions of climate, 

 altitude and moisture it has an especial 

 value to the farmer who makes use of 

 it intelligently. In Wyoming, farming 



is carried on at altitudes ranging from a little above 3,000 feet 

 to 8,000 feet or more; and under conditions of rainfall rang- 

 ing from 6.5 to 15 inches per annum. Under each of these 

 conditions the disk harrow finds its own particular use and 

 adaptability. At the State Experiment Station where the 

 altitude is about 7,200 feet, the disk harrow is considered 

 one of the most valuable pieces of tillage machinery and is 

 put to more different uses upon the farm than any other 

 implement. 



I may describe the uses to which the disk harrow is put on 

 the Experiment Farm and on the best farms and ranches in the 

 various sections of Wyoming under the following heads: 



1st: Following the plow to pulverize the soil and put it in 

 better tilth for the reception of the seed. 



2nd: Disking land in the spring that has been plowed in the 

 fall. This saves replowing and puts the soil in the best pos- 

 sible condition for spring seeding. 



3rd: Disking ground that has been cropped to peas, pota- 

 toes, or roots the previous year. Some of our best farmers 

 hold that disking is superior to plowing on such land if it has 



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