BREAKING PRAIRIE LAND 



101 



unless he digs below the surface, and young trees 

 planted therein dry out very rapidly, the coarse 

 lumps giving inadequate homes to roots. The com- 

 plete loss of a setting of sixty thousand fig cuttings 

 last year was due to this condition, for the harrow 

 pulverized only the visible surface. 



The best initial treatment for prairie sod is to 

 plow just below the grass roots in spring or sum- 

 mer. Such sod will disintegrate by fall, and much 

 noxious acid escape. "Where sod is plowed deep the 

 first time its tendency is to sour an already acid 

 soil ; it is better to burn the grass first. Sod break- 

 ing should be followed by deep plowing in fall in 

 time to get the benefit of winter rains and weather. 

 During January the ground should be thoroughly 

 harrowed, plowed a third time the following 

 month, and then planted. By this treatment, if 

 rainfall is normal, it can be conditioned in one 

 season. Some land is so light that sod may be 

 turned under deep, thus avoiding the second plow- 

 ing. For satisfactory results with reclaimed 

 marshes and swamp lands, the growing of some 

 rank crop, such as sorghum, a year before planting 

 trees, will be found almost necessary. It is not 

 beneficial to harrow the ground sooner than a 

 month after the second plowing, unless absolutely 

 necessary for want of time, for the weather greatly 

 improves raw land, and a rain or two is very bene- 

 ficial to upturned turf. There are other methods 

 equally as good as the above for bringing prairies 



