183 



others discouraoing'. Strauge to say, several correspoudents report too 

 muchraiu. '• Good, except on low land ;'" '- drowued by excessive raius ;" 

 " too much rain f '• winter has beea so rainy there has not been enough 

 sown to bread the county." Such are some of the returns relative to 

 this land of assumed drought. Later returns will be more complete. 

 The Mendocino correspondent says : 



Seedino: is uot yet entirely done, the continual rains having prevented work on the low 

 lands. Thei'e is but little difference here between winter and spring wheat. AVinter-wheat 

 brought from colder climates does not succeed well the first year. It grows and spreads on 

 the ground until the dry season sets in. when it is ripened too rapidly. It, however, soon 

 becomes acclimated, and after any given variety has been raised here one or two years, this 

 characteristic disappears. 



DEILLING vs. BROADCASTING. 



The use of the drill for winter-wheat has become so prevalent that 

 many intelligent people think the practice of sowing- broadcast by hand 

 has become quite obsolete. It is by no means the case. Information 

 acquired through our correspondence shows that of the entire winter- 

 wheat area, 52 per cent, only is put in with the drill. 



^^ Does di'iUinf) tend to prevent irhiter-lciUing of icheat P Eepeated tes- 

 timony in the affirmative has been received from our correspondents, 

 which has commanded nearly universal acquiescence. Occasionally the 

 negative has been assumed by writers for agricultural papers. In re- 

 viewing the deliberate utterances of our own correspondents, testimony 

 has so accumulated as to settle the question beyond a peradventure. 

 Opinions are found to differ relative to the amount of benetit derived 

 from drilling, in different soils and seasons, but the general fact of ad- 

 vantage is affirmed by nearly all. The amount of advantage, ex- 

 pressed as a percentage, is estimated variously from 10 to 100 per cent. 

 Calculated with referance to the quantity grown in each county, the 

 average of all these estimates of increase is 10 per cent., which is equiva- 

 lent to the total quantity of seed used. 



In the principal wheat-growing counties of Xew York the benefit is 

 acknowledged freely. In Genesee 1-5 per cent, is deemed a low estimate 

 of its advantage. In Onondaga drilling is regarded as " the only proper 

 way to put in seed ; a great protection against winter-frosts, and saves 

 one-fifth of the seed." In Steuben and \yayne the crop is 50 per cent, 

 better than that broadcasted ; in Livingston and Ontario 10 per cent. 

 "A better growth in the fall'' is reported from Monroe. "In fourteen 

 years' trial drilling proved a benefit in every year but one,'' says our 

 Wyoming correspondent; similar statements coming from Erie and 

 other prominent counties, and from many which have a smaller area in 

 wheat. The majority in Niagara, a county which sometimes produces 

 a million bushels, think drilling prevents winter-killing, though some 

 prominent farmers do not admit it. 



Testimony is in the same direction in New Jersey, with the sole excep- 

 tion of the return from Monmouth. In Burlington an exception is nat- 

 urally enough made relative to marshy land, where winter-wheat could 

 scarcely be expected to survive the effects of submerging and freezing. 

 Of county reports from Pennsylvania, only three deny positively the 

 winter-protection of drilling, Lehigh, Clinton and Union. In Lehigh it 

 is said that wheat was worse killed where it was drilled. It is deemed 

 an undecided question in Bucks, Chester and Westmoreland. Drilling 

 in Washington " prevents winter injuries to such an extent that portions 

 of fields drilled last fall for testing this question produced fair crops, 

 while portions broadcasted failed entirely." " A larger straw, better 



