8 July, 1907.] ]VIicat and Whcai-Breeding. 44^ 



Yield of Wheat. 



Yield, natural! \, is a prominent virtue, and it is the one more amenable 

 to the will of the grower than perhaps any other. It is not to be inferred 

 that the quality of prolificacy is not more inherent in one variety than^ in 

 another, for such is not the case, yet one variety may be very prolific in 

 one country and a failure in another, due to other forces acting detri- 

 mentally to its development. However, if a variety is suitable to the 

 climate and soil, its yields are dominated by those physical conditions of 

 the soil that are dependent on tillage operations, and it has been proved 

 conclusively that with so hardy a plant as wheat, profitable crops may be 

 grown on land that would scarcely produce any other marketable economic 

 plant, simply by introducing a proper system of rotation in which the bare 

 fallow plays an essential part. 



Importance of Humus. 



The humic and the moisture contents of ordinary soils are very strong^ 

 factors governing their fertility, the excess in a few localities being detri- 

 mental. Over the great northern areas, and ini fact southern areas also, 

 the humic content of soils is far too small, and leaves them more sensible 

 to every change of temperature and checks the action of the natural forces 

 that unlock the plant food imprisoned in the soil. Practically the insuffi- 

 ciency of humus or decayed vegetable matter in the soil is seen in 

 the co'ld appearance of the latter, in the manner it sets after rain^ 

 and in the regulating of the depth of ploughing, for deep ploughing 

 cannot be entertained when the humic content of the soil is low, and what 

 little there is, is confined to the first two or three inches at the surface. 

 Thus the humic content of the sail is essential to lasting success, and 

 stubbles, grass, rape, peas or any other form of humus-supplying agents 

 should receive the deep attention of every farmer. There is too much 

 speculating with the soil, and more so in regard to not supplying it with 

 humus than perhaps anything else. Working the bare fallow at the proper 

 times, and ploughing for it during the winter and early spring have con 

 clusively demonstrated that the conservation of the natural rainfall in most 

 instances supplies the all essential moisture for a satisfactory crop of 

 wheat in every part of Victoria, if the land values be considered. These 

 few words in reference to humus and moisture are stated in order to impress 

 the student of the part he, as a farmer, must take in determining the 

 prolificacy of his wheat crops, and that his management is really the essen- 

 tial to success. 



Prolificacy may be inherent in the variety, but unless the conditions 

 favorable to that quality are present, it is just as possible for the crop to 

 give a fine yield, as it is for cows to yield a profitable return of butter or 

 milk if the herd is kept in an enclosure with a straw stack, when, in the 

 adjoining fields or in the silo and barn, there is an abundance of milk- 

 producing food. Unless the wheat plant has the food in the soil avail- 

 able, and the essential physical conditions are present, it can no more prove 

 its worth than could the cows in the dairy herd under the conditions men- 

 tioned. Hence it is not likely a variety of wheat will be produced that 

 will meet the needs of speculative farming. Prolificacy mav be a great 

 factor in a wheat, such as Stein wedel, yet from the exceedingly great loss 

 by shedding its grain the returns from a crop of it may be too frequently 

 unsatisfactory. Undoubtedly then such a wheat would be quite unsuited 

 for windy localities. 



