THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



293 



to sow at a considerable depth, as this favours the 

 stability of the plant, and the stronger the land, 

 the greater the necessity for keeping near to the 

 surface. 



The three modes of sowing wheat, viz., dibbling, 

 drilling, and sowing broadcast, have each their 

 res^jective merits and advocates. Dibbling is the 

 system which most perfectly fulfils our ideas of 

 the requirements of vegetable growth ; but there 

 are many difficulties in the way of its general 

 adoption, from the large amount of manual labour 

 required, in consequence of the imperfect action of 

 of the implements made for this purpose. Drill- 

 ing is the process which i« most extensively 

 adopted, and is decidedly the best and most econo- 

 mical mode of depositing seed-wheat. The great 

 preventive to its more constant adoption is the fact 

 that, as the implement is heavy, tender soils ai-e 

 injured by the traffic over the land in wet seasons, 

 and these soils must have more time given them to 

 become dry and ready for sowing ; hence it often 

 becomes desirable, in order that we may avoid a 

 late seed-time, to sow the seed broadcast. The 

 advantages of the drill are very great in the oppor- 

 tunity afforded for hoeing the land ; but when the 

 system of horse or hand-hoeing is not practised, 

 much of the benefit of drilling is lost. After the 

 seed has been sown it should be covered by the 

 use of the harrow, but the less the land is worked 

 the better, and especially upon strong soils. The 

 roughness of the surface will be rather desirable 

 than otherwise, for protecting the wheat-plant 

 during the winter months. 



For sowing spring wheat the soil need not be 

 brought to as firm a condition as for the autumn 

 sowing, but the difference is only one of degree, 

 and such as enables us at once to see the cause 

 which renders greater solidity essential for autumn 

 sowing. 



When wheat is sown upon land which is not 

 sufficiently firm, the plant fails in the severe wea- 

 ther of winter; on the other hand, when the seed 

 has a more solid seed-bed in which to establish 

 itself, the roots are enabled to become more fibrous 

 in form and vigorous in action, and in this manner 

 they obtain a secure hold upon the soil from which 

 the winter frosts cannot dislodge them. The 

 great necessity then for a firm seed-bed for autumn 

 wheat is to ensure the stability of the plant during 

 the winter ; consequently there need be no sur- 

 prise that in spring we are less anxious about our 

 land-pressers. 



The preparation of the land in spring for wheat 

 is therefore far less troublesome than in the autumn. 

 After the roots have been removed from or con- 

 sumed upon the ground, the land is once ploughed 

 and a favourable opportunity taken for sowing it 

 in due course, when the soil is in dry working 

 order. 



A second ploughing is seldom given, for the 

 reasons I assigned when speaking of the autumn- 

 sowing. Early sowing is important for this de- 

 scription of wheat, and as a rule none, excepting 

 the April wheat, should be sown later than Febru- 

 ary in the eastern, and in March in the western 

 districts of England. 



Barley. — The soils in which barley flourishes 



most luxuriantly are free-working loams, and it is 

 by no means uncommon for such land to be distin- 

 guished as barley-land. This preference arises 

 from the natural habit of growth in the barley, 

 which requires a considerable freedom of action for 

 the development of that bunch of fibres of which 

 its root consists. In the preparation of land for its 

 growth this has to be remembered; for, if the 

 character of the soil is not naturally of the descrip- 

 tion required, we are compelled to adopt measures 

 for rendering it as much so as possible. The firm- 

 ness which was so necessary for wheat is objection- 

 able here, and the more completely it is destroyed 

 the better.* The course of procedure will depend 

 upon the nature and the quality of the land. It is 

 very seldom that barley is now cultivated except 

 after a root-crop, and I shall presume, therefore, 

 that a root-crop has been consumed upon the land. 

 Upon the lightest class of barley-soils there is 

 great danger of the manure being washed through 

 the soil ; on such lands, therefore, the use of the 

 plough is avoided at this time, as the inversion of 

 the soil would favour the loss of manure, and the 

 aid of a cultivator suffices to loosen the soil for the 

 seed-bed. Other soils are brought into a suf- 

 ficiently loose and free condition for sowing, by 

 means of a single ploughing, but by far the larger 

 breadth of our barley-soils requires further prepa- 

 ration. Soils which have only a moderately ad- 

 hesive character become considerably hardened by 

 the treading of sheep in feeding-off roots, and the 

 hardness is often much increased by the drying 

 action of the sun and air at the latter end of the 

 season. As soon as the ground is clear of sheep 

 it should be ploughed up, and if in any way dis- 

 posed to bake, it should be either rolled or harrowed 

 immediately afterwards, as the nature of the soil 

 may render most desirable ; it should remain in 

 this state until the time for sowing approaches, 

 and then be ploughed a second time. If this does 

 not bring the soil into a sufficiently free working 

 condition the use of the roller and drag will be 

 required. If the second ploughing is preceded 

 by the use of the drag, it will materially favour 

 the work, and this should certainly be done 

 if the soil promises to give trouble ; for, in this 

 way, we shall find after the succeeding ploughing 

 that the bottom portion of the surface-soil will have 

 lost much of its firmness. 



In this or some similar manner the soil must be 

 reduced to a free working condition ready for the 

 seed, for it is the worst of policy to sow barley 

 upon a badly-worked soil. In the busy time of 

 spring-sowing a farmer is tempted to sow barley 

 quickly and dispense with extra tillage when the 

 soil appears to be in fair condition; but I have 

 often seen that it is unwise to lessen the tillage by 

 being in too much of a hurry, as the superior con- 

 dition given by a second ploughing and additional 

 tillage makes a very material difference in the crop. 

 The time thus lost in the sowing of the land is 



* That is to say, within four or five inches of the 

 surface. According to my experience any loosen- 

 ing of the subsoil by double ploughing on hght 

 land, in a dry climate, is prejudicial to the barley 

 crop.-P. H. F. 



