Life for the Land (1951)

Duration: 0:35:32

Year Published: 1951

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: Produced by Arthur G. Rippey & Company and directed by Harry Lazier, this industrial film begins with an explanation of the importance of American agriculture and the dangers of soil erosion. The film then goes on to describe the innovations of the Graham Plow and shows it in use in various locations around the United STates, including the Rio Grande Valley, the Texas Panhandle, and a pasture in San Antonio. Please note: this film is incomplete and the video ends before the credits roll.Touted as “the plow that saved the Plains,” the Graham-Hoeme Chisel Plow helped control the effects of wind erosion during the seven-year drought of the 1950s. William Thurman Graham began manufacturing the machinery in Amarillo in 1938. After finding that standard tandem-disc plows left turned land flat, Graham was one of two Amarillo-based manufacturing companies that developed chisel plows with spring shanks that left crop residue on the surface, thereby reducing the risk of wind erosion.