184 



berry and larger yield," are results of drilling in Luzerne. It is ac- 

 knowledged in Delaware that it saves seed, yet some farmers still doubt 

 the economy of drill-culture. In Snyder '' nearly all the broadcast 

 sowing was frozen out, while that drilled had deeper root and did much 

 better." Our Wyoming correspondent ''■ in fifteen years' experience, on 

 a farm of 250 acres, never lost an acre of drilled wheat." Maryland 

 reports indicate the superiority of drilled crops without a positive ex- 

 ception. Those from Virginia maintain a similar unanimity. The King 

 George correspondent declares drilled wheat the best ''from the coming 

 up to the reaping." In Xelson, " drilled wheat is held to be proof against 

 winter-killing if put in early," and even if late, is better than broadcast. 

 A greater advantage on clay than on sandy soils is indicated in several 

 localities. 



In the cotton States drills are almost unknown. A few have been 

 introduced into Texas, and in parts of Tennessee they are more numer- 

 ous and deemed a decided advantage. In West Virginia and Kentucky, 

 wherever used, they are credited with enhancing the supply of wheat. 



Without exception the reports from Ohio acknowledge the benefit of 

 the drill ; in Williams only the qualification is added, '' some doubt it." 

 In Hardin a nearly double product is claimed; in Morrow "recent re- 

 sults of drilling have been more efficacious than ever before known ;" 

 in Highland it is found more beneficial in connection with deep plow- 

 ing ; in Hancock the recent product of drilled wheat ranges from 20 to 

 47 bushels per acre. The Logan correspondent says: "There are ex- 

 ceptional seasons, in which broadcast wheat does not winter-kill to any 

 appreciable extent, but I should estimate that, on an average, drilled 

 wheat will have the advantage of broadcast in withstanding the winter 

 siege to the amount of 20 per cent, of the crop. Eeasons: It is more 

 uniformly placed at a depth that enables it to anchor its roots deep in 

 the soil ; and the ridges that the drilling leaves on each side of the 

 wheat-bed are, by degrees, precipitated on the young plants, by the 

 same alternate freezing and thawing that lifts the wheat, thus making- 

 use of the same means, at the same time, to counteract its injurious 

 influence." A single correspondent in Michigan, representing Livings- 

 ton, says: It does not prevent winter-killing, but rather increases it, 

 the land being very flat, the furrows holding the melted snow. All 

 other counties report a belief in drill-culture as a preventive of win- 

 ter-killing. Its superiority is repeatedly claimed in seasons of autumn 

 drought. Throughout Indiana the testimony is the same. Laporte alone 

 says "No," but adds that the soil is sandy, and that wheat, either drilled 

 or broadcast, escapes winter injuries. In one county. Perry, not a 

 wheat-drill i's found, but they are used very generally throughout the 

 State. It is said in Franklin: "Xoue but old fogies sow broadcast 

 here, and they are scarce. No fact in agriculture is better established, 

 than that drilling grain is a great improvement on broadcasting." The 

 drill is credited in Eipley with an increase of 4 or 5 bushels per acre : 

 in Jasper, with 5 bushels on low laud, and 2 on high ground. Of 

 thirty-two counties reporting relative to winter-wheat in Illinois, there 

 is not a positive dissent to the theory that drilling is a winter i^rotec- 

 tion. The benefit in dry seasons is emphatically asserted, and attrib- 

 uted to the deeper planting and the pulverization of the seed-bed by the 

 drill. In Macoupin drilled wheat is assumed to be a sure crop, while 

 that sown broadcast will winter kill to some extent every winter, and 

 lirobably entirely one winter in every three. In Clay County the ad- 

 vantage is stated at 15 per cent., though it is admitted that no benefit 

 is received on certain clay soils, that become early saturated and " run 



