132 



South Dakota Station, Bulletin No. 17, March, 1890 (pp. 24). 



Small grain, L. Foster, M. S. A. — Methods of seeding and qiiantity 

 of seed. — Under this head is given a preliminary report on a series of 

 experiments begun in 1889 to compare drilling with broadcasting and 

 to test different rates of seeding for wheat and oats. The results are 

 regarded as "suggestive rather than conclusive." 



Wheat.— Ten plats of an acre each of new bottom-land were sown 

 with the variety known as Velvet Chaff or Blue Stem. They were di- 

 vided into groups of two plats each. The several groups received seed 

 at the rates of 4, 4^, 5, 6, and 8 pecks per acre respectively. Five plats 

 out of each group were sown with a press drill and five with a broad- 

 cast seeder. Owing especially to differences of level and consequent 

 differences in moisture the experimental area was not entirely uniform. 

 " All through the season the grain on the press-drilled plats kept a few 

 days in advance of the other. It came up first, was more evenly distrib- 

 uted, and made altogether the best stand. It began stooling earlier, 

 and was also earlier and more even in heading out and ripening." The 

 results, as stated in a table, were with 4 to 5 pecks of seed per acre, 

 slightly larger yields on the drilled plats, and with 6 and 8 pecks slightly 

 larger yields in favor of the broadcast plats. The average yield of the 

 press-drilled plats was 25:| bushels, while that of the broadcast plats 

 was 24t^ bushels. 



Oats. — These experiments were on the same plan as those for the 

 wheat. The soil was likewise bottomland and not entirely uniform ; it 

 had been cropped for some years without manures. The variety was 

 the Welcome, and the ratesof seeding were 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 pecks 

 per acre. The results are stated in a table. The yield per plat with 7 

 to 9 pecks of seed was somewhat larger on the drilled, and with 9 to 

 12 pecks was correspondingly larger on the broadcast plats. The 

 average yield of drilled plats was 27J bushels, while that of the broad- 

 cast plats was 30^ bushels. On the broadcast plats the yield increased 

 with the increase in the amount of seed used. 



A recapitulation of the observations and results cites, as considera- 

 tions in favor of the press drill, the quick germination insured by the 

 seed being put at once into moist soil and the covering firmed ; economy 

 of seed and evenness of distribution, germination, and ripening; and 

 the face thai strong winds lay bare a portion of the seed sown broad' 

 cast, while they rather deepen the covering of the press-drilled. With 

 plenty of moisture at jjlanting time broadcast seeding may serve as well 

 as drilled ; economy so far as cost of implements, labor, and horse-power 

 are concerned, favors the broadcast method ; in per cent of tillering the 

 broadcast far exceeds the press-drilled. 



Tests of varieties. — Tabulated notes of experiments (on plats of one 

 eighth of an acre) on eleven varieties of winter wheat, sixteen of 

 spring wheat, twenty-two of oats, and twenty-two of barley, with 



