PLOWING SOD 



151 



sometimes late before all the furrows are turned. The sowing of 

 large areas of small grain also often prevents early plowing. Not 

 many years since, it was a common idea to allow fields to grow up 

 to weeds which were turned under, with the supposition that so 

 many enemies bad been destroyed for the crop of the season. Think- 

 ing farmers have found that it is the weed seeds which are turned 

 up from the bottom of the furrow slice which do the most damage. 

 These should be brought to the surface early in the spring in order 

 that they may be destroyed before planting time. Early plowing 

 also admits of more thorough preparation of the seed bed just before 

 planting. 



GENERAL PURPOSE PLOW. 



Mold board is set at sufficient angle to allow the use of this plow in 

 sod or stubble. 



Plowing Sod. The virgin sod land of the corn belt is rapidly 

 becoming a thing of the past. A study of statistics of wild hay mead- 

 ow shows a steady decrease in acreage. In such land the breaking 

 plow is used to some extent in peeling back a shallow furrow in the 

 fall, a deeper plowing to follow in the spring. Little alteration of 

 structure can be brought about in turning the virgin prairie sod. 



First, the heavy draft due to the obstinate turf produced 

 by the roots of prairie grasses, and second, the fact that considerable 



