

THE CHOICE OF PLOWS 193 



on large ranches being done by Japanese, Mexicans, and 

 Indians, none skilled in handling teams and adjusting plows. 

 Eastern improvements are therefore apt to be detrimental. 

 The ideal plow, then, is one made to go through any soil, 

 plow deeply, and run with little attention from the driver. On 

 the other hand, the cost of such a plow is of no object to the 

 large rancher and he ordinarily rebuilds purchased equipment 

 to suit his own ideas. Plows suited to local conditions sell 

 readily at from 25 to 100 per cent, higher cost than correspond- 

 ing types in the Central States. 



The sand and gravel in the soil call for chilled, rather than 

 soft center, steel in plow bottoms, and in dry land the disk plow 

 is popular. It allows plowing to be done before the fall rains, 

 after the start of which it is often impossible to plow the de- 

 sired acreage. The pumice in volcanic ash soils in the North- 

 west necessitates the use of a chilled plow. The soil is more 

 easily pulverized, hence a lower, straighter and less sharply 

 curved moldboard is used than in the heavy soils of California. 

 Prairie breakers are not extensively used. The shallowness 

 of the layer of fertile soil in many places limits plowing to a 

 depth of from four to six inches and favors the use of shallow- 

 turning plows such as the Stockton gang. Work in vineyards 

 requires a small plow, closely coupled, with an adjustment 

 allowing the handles and beam to be set to one side and the 

 plow to run close to the vines. For both orchards and vine- 

 yards the small one-horse plow is common and many so-called 

 "pony" gangs, each turning several narrow, shallow furrows, 

 are used. The reclaimed marsh, or tule, lands require plows 

 of great clearance. Engine gang plows are numerous on the 

 great ranches, but steep grades prohibit the economical use of 

 tractors over a large part of the grain-raising country. There 

 are few medium sized holdings, the majority being either small 

 patches of five to twenty acres, or ranches of from 400 acres 

 upward. In consequence few sulky plows are used as compared 

 with one-horse and gang plows. 



