THE SUMMER FALLOW 179 



To be most effective a fallow should be surface culti- 

 vated the fall before, plowed in June or early July in 

 the drier parts and as late as early August in the Red 

 River Valley; on some soils it should be harrowed im- 

 mediately after plowing, and surface cultivated as 

 necessary (1) to control weeds, (2) to prevent the soil 

 from baking or cracking, and (3) to have the soil firm 

 to within two or three inches of the surface. In regions 

 where the rainfall is greater and where fall frosts are 

 likely to do damage, such extreme practices as result in 

 later maturity of seed crops should be modified in order 

 to meet the more humid and colder conditions found. On 

 soils that drift the surface tillage must be such as will 

 conserve moisture and kill weeds without making the 

 surface too fine and dusty. On heavy soils where the 

 crop frequently lodges later plowing of the fallow or 

 the use of a pasture crop on it is desirable. On fields 

 containing much quack or other creeping-rooted grasses 

 twice plowing may be desirable — once shallow in the fall 

 and then deeper the next season, or once early in June 

 and again later in the summer. 



The frequency of the fallow may be lessened by the 

 use of intertilled crops, the practice of suitable rotations, 

 the maintenance of the humus content of soils and by a 

 more intensive agriculture, but these are not likely to 

 replace it or a modification of it in the drier parts of the 

 prairies until land is more expensive and labor, capital 

 and equipment cheaper. 



At present the fallow or corn is absolutely essential 

 in southwestern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta; 

 a fallow is to be desired occasionally in all the prairie 

 region west of central Manitoba; but it need be less 

 frequent in the park belt and only very occasionally 



