1857.] 



Wheat and Wheat Culture. 



399 



thinks it the ^^ne plus ultra'" in wheat growing. Mr. D. says no odds 

 how rough you leave your ground he has found that the melting 

 away of the lumps in the spring is a great protection to the bare 

 joots; the rougher you leave the surface the better. Mr. E. is utterly 

 opposed to neighbor D.-, and says that after harrowing fine, the lumps 

 should be broken with a heavy roller, and so on to the end of the 

 alphabet. 



This may serve as a specimen of o%ir science of agriculture ; to record 

 every freak and fancy in the cultivation of our wheat crop would fill 

 a volume, and certainly to very little purpose, so far as correct or any 

 definite practice is concerned, and he who has an agricultural library 

 before him will be found stupidily to stand in doubtful maze, after 

 reading their record, how he is to proceed with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. ' 



Now if any physiologist will inform us why he would bury his 

 wheat deeper than half an inch beneath the surface we should be 

 pleased to have his arguments. We know the fiirmer has his and 

 will have them when we are done, and though "vanquished will argue 

 still ;" but science can develop no more obvious truth than this, 

 and we are assured by most obvious tests in our experience that prac- 

 tice will confirm the same as most correct and proper. To illustrate 

 our views in relation to the proper preparation of ground, draining, 

 sowing, subsequent growth and development of seed, we introduce 

 the following cuts : 



No. 1— SECTION OP LAND BEFORE IT IS DRAINED. NO. 2— SECTION OP LAND AFTER IT IS DRAINED. 



1. Surface Soil. 



2. Water Table. 



3. Water of Evaporation. 



4. Waterof Capillary Attraction. 



5. Waterof Drainage or Stagnant Water. 



I, Surface Soil. 2. Water Table. 



3. Water of Capillary Attraction, 



4, Water of Drainage or Stagnant Water. 



If the ground is not properly drained it will present the appear- 

 ance of cut No. 1, and if wheat be sowed as ordinarily or shallow, 

 either early or late, in such ground it will spout out by the frost ; 

 and if sowed in soil prepared according to cut No. 2 this sad casualty 



