Finished Plowing

February 26, 1932  We finished plowing and then one-wayed.

The Siemens had started to plow their land the day before and finished this day.  They did not plow everything because they had some pasture land and a lot of land that was planted to wheat in fall.  But they plowed the rest of the land to prepare it for planting crops.  The moldboard plow killed weeds and turned under crop waste from the previous year so that it could rot and act as fertilizer.  It broke the surface of the soil and brought fresh nutrients to the surface.

Plowing

 The one-way disc plow was invented in 1926 by Charles Angell of Plains, Kans., which was only 15 miles west of Meade.  The one-way had discs mounted vertically but at an angle to the direction of disking, so it moved the soil in one direction and would build up mounds along fences until the direction was reversed the next year.  The one-way became wildly popular throughout the Great Plains.  The Siemens were using it only six years after it had been invented.

The one-way was intended to chop stubble from last-year’s crop into the soil and to break up the clods that were left by plowing.  However, it left a fine, pulverized soil that blew easily when dry.  While the one-way was a great tool in certain situations, its overuse combined with severe drought was one of the causes of the Dust Bowl.  

UPDATE:  The drought that caused the Dust Bowl only hit in the summer of 1932, so in February 1932, the Siemens and other farmers had yet to experience the consequences of the overuse of the one-way.

One-waying