124 



DRY FARMING 



93. Killing the Native Prairie Plants. — The native 

 vegetation consists chiefly of grasses and various shrubs, 

 such as rose bushes and wolf willow. Some of these 

 plants are fibrous-rooted while others, such as native 



Fig. 45. — Breaking with Oxen. 

 Not an unfamiliar sight in the early days Of land settlement in the west. 



quack and the rose bushes have underground stems or 

 "creeping roots". These plants can be killed only by 

 plowing. Fibrous-rooted plants can be killed by once 

 plowing if followed by reasonable surface cultivation. 

 Creeping-rooted ones are less easily disposed of, and in 

 order to conjpleteley eradicate them it is necessary either 

 to break and backset or to break in a dry time and let 

 the furrow slice dry out before it is surface-cultivated. 

 It is obvious, therefore, that on land that is to be 

 plowed only once, the best practice for conserving 

 moisture is not the most efficient for killing the creep- 



