HARROWS FOR DRY-FARMING 313 



is, everything considered, the most useful. The 

 cutaway harrow is often used in cultivating old alfalfa 

 land ; the spade disk harrow has a very limited appli- 

 cation in dry-farming ; and the orchard disk harrow is 

 simply a modification of the full disk harrow whereby 

 the farmer is able to travel between the rows of trees 

 and so to cultivate the soil under the branches of 

 the trees without injuring the leaves or fruit. 



One of the great difficulties in dry-farming con- 

 cerns itself with the prevention of the growth of 

 weeds or volunteer crops. As has been explained in 

 previous chapters, weeds require as much water for 

 their growth as wheat or other useful crops. During 

 the fallow season, the farmer is likely to be overtaken 

 by the weeds and lose much of the value of the fallow 

 by losing soil-moisture through the growth of weeds. 

 Under the most favorable conditions weeds are dif- 

 ficult to handle. The disk harrow itself is not effec- 

 tive. The smoothing harrow is of less value. There 

 is at the present time great need for some implement 

 that will effectively destroy young weeds and prevent 

 their further growth. Attempts are being made to 

 invent such implements, but up to the present with- 

 out great success. Hogenson reports the finding of an 

 implement on a western dry-farm constructed by the 

 farmer himself which for a number of years has shown 

 itself of high efficiency in keeping the dry-farm free 

 from weeds. It is shown in Figure 87. Several 

 improved modifications of this implement have been 



