MANAGEMENT OP SPECIAL SOILS 281 



mouidboard breaker. When the breaking is not done 

 with engines a sulky drawn by five or six horses is used. 

 The fact that so much power is necessary to cut and 

 turn over one furrow gives some indication of the heavy 

 nature of the soil. The use of the heavy float or plank 

 drag or scrubber on the rough surface soon after plow- 

 ing and before it bakes is becoming a general practice. 

 This operation is followed, as opportunity presents, by 

 double disking to form a seed bed and aid in killing 

 grass. To finish the season's cultivation a single or double 

 stroke of the harrow is given. 



236. The Crops Grown. — Loose top land is frequently 

 infested with wireworms which work havoc with cereal 

 crops if they are sown first, but which injure flax very 

 little. The first crop is therefore generally flax and the 

 common practice is to use cereals as the second crop. 

 Wheat is frequently sown on the flax stubble without any 

 cultivation, although fall or spring disking is also com- 

 monly followed. The practices of breaking and the use 

 of flax as the first crop are quite fixed and general but 



. the best preparation for the second crop has not yet been 

 determined to the satisfaction of many. 



237. Fallowing Loose Top Land. — After taking two 

 crops, the land is usually fallowed, the plowing being 

 done with disc plows. Motor power is in common use. 

 The level land, its freedom from sloughs and stones, and 

 the heavy draft all tend to foster this form of power. 

 The plowed land is subsequently cultivated much the 

 same as ether soils. At present discs and drag harrows 

 are extensively used but cultivators are being intro- 

 duced more and more. 



238. The Rotation Used. — The rotation generally prac- 

 tised is a fallow and two crops, breaking, flax and 



