The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-08-10
POOR FLOWING
SAYS PROF.. SHAW
WELL KNOWN GOOD FARMING
EXPERT HAS SEVERE cRITI-
cIsM OF POWER FLOWING AS
HE HAS SEEN 1T DoNE-URcEs
MORE THOROUGH WORK.

Prof. Thos. Shaw says in a recent
communication to the press:
Much Of the blowing that is done in
the western Dakotas and Montana is
nothing short of a to the i'm
mediate future of crop production, be-
cause of it's wretched character.
Some Of the poor blowing is done by
the farmers themselves, but more,
much more of it is lone by those who
use power plows and do the work at
so much an acre. Much of the work
that these men do is simply wretched
In character. No milder term will fit
~ apply to it.
The land plowed is turned over in
part by the mould-board plows and in
part by disk plows. The character of
much of the blowing done by these
power plows will he made apparent in
the following demonstration, conduct
ed at Moccasin in the Judith basin on
the experimental farm at that place
July 20. The occasion was the holding
OF a monster picnic of 1000 to 5000
people at h farm. Two power plows
were at work. One was a mould
board and the other a disk pillow.
What was the character of the work
done? The mouldboard plow turned
the sod over at depths varying from
two to six inches. In some places
NAASAO "VAO WV ShARSs OO1lAO Va LA1C
burrows were thrown over quite on
the top Of the burrows adjacent to
them, thus making a crown Of earth
and a depression alongside Of 1t, such
as would cali for great labor to put it
in an even condition, and when so
evened, many sods would die on the
surface in a way that would itereerf
with the narrowing of the grain crop
that follows. The disk plow a torn
the sod into furrow slices Of varying
depths and lengths. Some OF these
lay with the grass side down and some
with the grass side up. Some Of them
lay on the edge and they lay length
wise and crosswise and at all angles.
II could not Do travelled owe by man
or beast without labored effort. And
that was a demonstration. If these
are the kind of demonstrations that
those with power plows give, what
must be the character of the blowing
that is not a demonstration? / do
not say that all the blowing thus done
by power plows is of that character,
but much Of 1t is. / have heard it
spoken of as rascally.
The ground that was turned over
with the disk plow at Moccasin would
be exceedingly difficult to pulverize. /
fail to see how 1t could be done, ex-
| cept by using on it a very heavy cut
away disk, and keeping at 1t until 1t
was cut in pieces. When thus fined 1t
would be covered with bits of sod that
will not rot. 1t is simply too bad,
that and should be treated thus.
The farmers themselves are in part
to blame for such blowing. They
should not tolerate 1t. If an agree
ment has been properly made, both
parties should live up to 1t. Ii q
written agreement has not been made,
such an omission is a mistake. When
a mar agrees to pillow Ian five or six
inches, he should either do 1t or go
without a part Of his pay. IL such
blowing were not tolerated 1T would
not be done. But many farmers are
too easily satisfied. They too readily
listen to the delusion that three or
four inches is deep enough to plow.
If the makers Of power plows ara
wise, they will o carefully into this
question. They do not know proba-
bly, that a prejudice is rising up In
the minds Of many against such plow-
ing and against implements that do it
Should they not be more careful In
making sales? They have an import
ant mission il they will only rightly
! fulfil 1t. The help they can give In
turning over the stiff sod lands of the
prairie is of very great value, but II
should be rightly rendered. II 1t Ii
not. the day will com when these
L POWSE AudSAAAAIC5 may A~NNS@SSN -
the junk heap.
Is it not a fact that the farmers Of
the west are going a little too fast II
the breaking up of their landy Would
ii not be better in every way to break
less land and to break 1t as It ough'
to be broken? Even in the present
season which was very favorable e
growth the crop on well prepared Land
was vastly better than on that poorl!
prepared. In a poor producing yea
the difference would be vastly great,
!, er in favor Of the well prepared land.
is 1t not a good plan for the home.
steader to break up much of his lart
with good brood rnares7 is It no
quite as good to break up much OF !
with mules? Would 1t not be a still
better plan to break up much OF I
with oxen. Oxen are good property u
turn off for beef when we are don
with them Would 1t do any harm Z.
turn the wheels backward or at geas
slow up a hitler
III