136 DRY LAND FARMING 



is unduly lacking. Where such power is used the rea- 

 sonably small engine is to be preferred on the average 

 farm. It is not so unwieldy as the more ponderous en- 

 gine, and can therefore be used under a greater variety 

 of conditions. 



When steam or gasoline power is used in plowing, 

 the aim should be to smooth the land by rolling or in 

 some other way compressing it, and to form on it a dust 

 mulch with the aid of a harrow, the plowing, smoothing 

 and harrowing being completed in the one operation. 

 The plan which turns over large areas of land in the early 

 summer and leaves them thus all season without further 

 working is to be condemned in unmeasured terms. 



Although the use of steam and especially gasoline 

 power is rapidly extending in the semi-arid regions, and 

 especially in the breaking up of the prairie, the exact 

 place that these will occupy in the future in the farming 

 of these areas cannot now be forecasted. The behavior 

 of those engines in the future cannot be gauged by their 

 behavior in the past, as many of those who have manned 

 them have not been sufficiently skilled to get from them 

 all the work that they are capable of doing. For a simi- 

 lar reason the breakages have been overfrequent and 

 costly. While there is certainly a place for the use of 

 such power on the farm, that place has not as yet been 

 definitely determined. That ground may be plowed and 

 pulverized and the crop sown on it by the aid of such 

 power cannot be questioned. The relative cost, however, 

 as compared with horse labor, is yet an open question. 



Good plowing in dry areas. It is important that 

 plowing shall be well done under all conditions, because 

 of the important bearing that such plowing has on the 

 retention of soil moisture. When land is plowed shallow, 

 the furrow slice being imperfectly turned, and there are 

 many skips in the plowing, it will be at once apparent 

 that a good seed bed cannot be made on such land. In 



