BREAKING THE VIRGIN PRAIRIE 135 



Flax has proven the best cash crop for spring break- 

 ing in the prairie area, and oats the best feed crop in all 

 parts. Corn does very well on spring breaking and has 

 the advantage of leaving the soil in good condition for 

 another crop. Potatoes are sometimes planted under the 

 sod with fair results in favorable seasons. 



108. The "Breaking" up of Cultivated Grass Land. — 

 In general the practices found advisable in breaking 

 prairie sod apply also to the plowing up of cultivated 

 grass land. The drier the district the greater the neces- 

 sity of June breaking. In parts of Manitoba, northern 

 Saskatchewan and northern Alberta plowing immediate- 

 ly after the hay crop is removed in July is found to give 

 very satisfactory results except in abnormally dry years. 

 Packing or planking after breaking is advisable. Back- 

 setting is never necessary if the grass is western rye or 

 timothy or mixtures of either of these with clover. But 

 if brome grass or Kentucky blue grass is grown backset- 

 ting will be necessary to control it. The former is much 

 more persistent than, the latter, but even the Kentucky 

 blue grass is difficult to kill with only one plowing. We 

 have also found that the hardy alfalfas cannot be satis- 

 factorily killed by once-plowing. A shallow plowing 

 early in the season followed by packing, and then back- 

 setting after the ground has well settled and before the 

 growth of unkilled plants becomes too strong, is a good 

 procedure with this crop. Where backsetting is n(^t 

 necessary the general practice is to pack the land, double 

 disc it as soon as convenient, and harrow to give it a uni- 

 form and level surface for seeding. 



