Disc Plows???

A disk tiller, or "one way" isn't the same thing as a disk breaking plow, as they only go about 2-maybe 3inches deep. On a one way, the disks are mounted to a common axle, breaking plows are individually mounted.

A disk breaking plow is a primary tillage tool, a one way is meant to mainly till fallow ground for weed control.

One ways, not breaking plows, were a real factor in the Dust Bowl. A lot of farmers could no longer afford to use breaking plows because of the intense fuel use, so they had to make do with just flipping the topsoil over and over. When the draught and wind hit, the land never had a chance.

plow inverts most residue. the biggest reason for the dust bowl days was spring plowing miles and miles of already dry soil.and nothing to stop it no alternate crop residue no wind breaks no wind strips and plowed soil.
the oneway was invented ater the dirty thirties and was inpart a response to the dust bowl.
conservation wise the oneway was a far superior tool to the disk and our erosion problems started after parking oneways.
ten years ago we stopped working the soil altogether.and surprise no erosion.Paul Winter

Disc breaking plows also invert the soil in the same fashion as a moldboard (at least all of them that I used did). Break plowing on gumbo type soils allows moisture to more readily absorbed and, due to the size of the plowed "clods" and furrowing rows produced IS NOT as prone to either wind nor water erosion as is the small, fragmented soil left after running a one way.

As to the "plow 3 inches lose 3inches" argument I would hate to think someone would use any kind of tillage practice in an environment where one could expect weather conditions that would produce such a soil loss.

A greater sin today is the use of tandem disc plows for all stages of tillage, "flat planting" and running across terraces on rolling land with overwidth equipment. I have seen more soil lost to erosion in the last ten years after the corperate, mega farms moved in than in the lifetime that came before it. ironically, they ar all getting paid by the under the auspices of "soil conservation."

Parlin and Orenduff, JICase Plow Works, and John Deere all offered one way disc tillers by around 1923. In fact, I have seen pictures of real early tractors pulling Cockshut one ways with seed boxes on them in Canada in theWW1 era.

My point is that in the Blacklands of Texas, a one way is an inferior primary tillage plow, and the threble disc breaking plow reigned supreme until supplanted by the Graham Hoame Chisle plow in the 1950's.

Is this what you had in mind? It's actually called a disc tiller. I restored this one last year. From what I have gathered, they are hard to find and not even recognizable in certain parts of the country. I've used it to till a garden and it does a great job of turning over the soil.