302 DRY-FARMING 
for its success upon the use of proper implements of 
tillage. In fact, it is very doubtful if the reclama- 
tion of the great arid and semiarid regions of the 
world would have been possible a few decades ago, 
before the invention and introduction of labor-say- 
ing farm machinery. It is undoubtedly further a fact 
that the future of dry-farming is closely bound up 
with the improvements that may be made in farm 
machinery. Few of the agricultural implements on 
the market to-day have been made primarily for 
dry-farm conditions. The best that the dry-farmer 
can do is to adapt the implements on the market 
to his special needs. Possibly the best field of in- 
vestigation for the experiment stations and inventive 
minds in the arid region is farm mechanics as applied 
to the special needs of dry-farming. 
Clearing and breaking 
A large portion of the dry-farm territory of the 
United States is covered with sagebrush and related 
plants. It is always a difficult and usually an ex- 
pensive problem to clear sagebrush land, for the 
shrubs are frequently from two to six feet high, cor- 
respondingly deep-rooted, with very tough wood. 
When the soil is dry, it is extremely difficult to pull 
out sagebrush, and of necessity much of the clearing 
must be done during the dry season. Numerous 
devices have been suggested and tried for the purpose 
