The Disk Harrow 



By G. H. ALFORD 



Manager of Southern Branch Office, I H C Service Bureau 



The Indiana, IHinois and Iowa farmer uses three times as 

 many farm implements and more than three times as much horse 

 power as the average farmer in the cotton belt; and after all is 

 said, this is unquestionably the main reason why he earns more 

 than three times as much as we do. 



We must use more and better implements; there can be no 

 argument here. The only question is as to which are worth 

 most and which will pay best. We call your attention to the 

 disk harrow, an implement that can be purchased at half the 

 cost of a good riding cultivator and an implement that can be 

 used for twelve months every year. 



There was a time when the few farmers who owned disk 

 harrows used them to prepare new land and to destroy clods. 

 The intensive methods of farming have brought to light many 

 new uses for the disk harrow. A reversible disk harrow can be 

 used as a stalk cutter, as an implement for preparing the seed 

 bed on sandy land and preparing the seed bed after breaking 

 on all kinds of land, and then used to cultivate the crop. 



A sharp disk does a fine job of cutting cotton and corn 

 stalks when they are dry. It is the best possible implement to 

 use in preparing a cotton stalk and corn stalk field for the plow. 

 Of course, it is best to use the stalk cutter first, but after the 

 stalk cutter has been used to cut the stalks into pieces, the sharp 

 disks do a fine job of cutting the stalks into smaller pieces, level 

 the ridges, and form a fine mulch. To get the land ready for 

 the plow, the gangs should be set close and run lengthwise over 

 the rows to cut the stalks into very short pieces and pulverize 

 the top of the soil. 



The disk is used on unplowed land for the following pur- 

 poses: First, to prepare mellow land for grain and other crops 

 where deep plowing is seldom necessary; second, to cut and 

 mix barnyard manure, grass and trash so that when it is turned 



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