14 BULLETIN 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
double plowed (or crowned and plowed) and 246 acres were plowed 
but once. Of the 1,394 acres crowned and plowed, 309 acres were 
crowned in the fall and 1,085 acres crowned in the spring. More of 
this crowning would have been done in the fall if the farmer could 
have found time to do it at that season of the year. 
The crowning of the alfalfa sod is done with the same plows that 
are used to plow the land, and the time per acre for various crews 
runs similar to that required for plowing. The explanation of the 
_ variation in costs of plowing under varying conditions applies also 
to crowning alfalfa, the reasons being identical. 
DISKING PRACTICE. - 
Disking was not a general practice in this region in 1915, as is 
shown by the fact that only 26.9 per cent of the farmers disked any 
land, and only about 21 per cent of the total area was disked. The 
plowing table shows that most of the land was plowed. Where disk- 
ing was done, it was mostly by men who were preparing alfalfa land 
for beets. Some growers disked manured land before plowing. 
Of the 82 growers who used the disk in preparing beet land, it 
was found that 7 used 12-disk implements, 40 used the 14-disk size, 
and 28 used 16-disk machines. The remaining 7 made no report as 
to the size of disk used. 
Averaging all the farms, it is found that one man with the average 
number of horses (about four) can double disk 5.4 acres-in a 10- 
hour day. A small number of farms use other than 4-horse teams 
for disking, so that a comparison of the cost by crews does not 
indicate much of practical value. The average acre disked required 
1.84 hours of man labor and 7.19 hours of horse labor. This was ap- 
plied at an average cost of $1.09 per acre for the 1,874 acres disked on 
82 farms. 
FLOATING PRACTICE. 
The implement used in the operation of floating land is usually a 
homemade piece of machinery made from sawed timbers 2 or 3 
inches thick and 12 inches wide; the length varies from 12 to 24 
feet and the width from 6 to 14 feet. (Fig. 2.) Of the total number 
reporting, 50 per cent reported 16 feet as the length of the float, and 
most of those remaining were more than 16 feet in length. As to 
width, 20 used 6-foot floats, 12 used 7-foot widths, 89 used 8-foot 
widths, 33 used 10-foot widths, and 14 used floats wider than 10 feet. 
The pieces are bolted together so that the planks have only one edge 
touching the ground when in use. The three crosspieces usually 
provided serve to drag down the higher places in the field and deposit 
dirt in the depressions. This is an excellent implement for getting 
ground in level condition, so as to irrigate well. The longer floats 
