185 



level." It is adinitted in Lawrence tlmt drilled wheat, often a good 

 crop, when broadcasted is a failnre. In Washington " broadcasting 

 never yields half a crop," and is abandoned. In Richland " many de- 

 cline to plant wheat unless it is drilled," and it is stated that the crop 

 has been doubled since the drill has been introduced. The Schuyler 

 correspondent reports an experiment, in which three acres drilled yielded 

 18 bushels per acre, while seven acres broadcasted were not worth har- 

 vesting. In Bureau, drilled wheat is sometimes winter-killed in prairie 

 when it does well in timber. 



In Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, there is no winter-wheat grown 

 worth considering. The general belief is strong in the liability to win- 

 ter injury, whatever the mode of planting. In some counties of these 

 States there is a small portion of winter- wheat sown, and in several of 

 these the advantage of drilling is conceded. In Lee, Iowa, which pro- 

 duced 95,326 bushels of winter-wheat in the census year, it is said that 

 "last winter the drilled wheat stood the winter well and produced a 

 good crop, while that sown broadcast was so much winter killed as 

 hardly to pay the expenses of harvesting." 



In 'Missouri, returns cover forty-seven counties, of which only one 

 (Platte) reports drilled wheat as unreliable as broadcast. In Benton 

 " the only way to secure a crop" is by use of the drill. In Chariton it 

 insures almost certainly a full yield, while broadcast wheat is often but 

 half a crop ; and in certain soils in Franklin it doubles the yield. "Drilled 

 wheat is scarcely injured; broadcast wheat is half winter-killed," says 

 the correspondent in Greene. In Marion, " last winter a marked differ- 

 ence appeared. Nearly every crop of broadcast proved a failure, while 

 many crops of drilled yielded 20 to 25 bushels per acre; generally a dif- 

 ference of 30 per cent!^ in favor of drilling." In La Fayette, "during 

 the last season, all drilled wheat made fair returns, while at least 50 per 

 cent, of broadcast did not make a fourth of a crop." In Stone the ad- 

 vantage is placed at 33 per cent, if the drills run north and south. The 

 explanation is, " when the drills run north and south, the sun at noon 

 strikes the furrows on each side, thawiug the frozen sides, and the dirt 

 falls in and keeps the roots covered." 



The verdict of Kansas is decidedly in favor of the drill. Very few 

 counties give opposing tCfStiniony. Marion objects. Dickinson says, 

 "All wheat winter-killed last winter;" and Lincoln reports " drilled wheat 

 winter-killed worse than broadcast." Droughts in autumn, which are 

 not uufrequent, are less injurious to wheat where the drill is used. From 

 Nemaha the report is, " Five per cent, of drilled wheat is killed ; 30 per 

 cent, of the broadcast." In Cherokee " great destruction of broadcast; 

 15 per cent, of the drilled." In Coffey, 50 per cent, of the acreage is 

 drilled and 95 per cent, of the product. In Montgomery "nearly all the 

 broadcast is killed." In Shawnee the preference is expressed for drills 

 running east and west, because the prevailing winds are north and south, 

 and the injury from displacement of earth is less. A farmer in Jeffer- 

 son says he once put in 80 acres of winter-wheat, and " got 27.73 bushels 

 to the acre." His neighbors sowed broadcast, and " not one had 

 good wheat." He says he has " raised four crops in succession without 

 winter-killing," while his neighbors have had their crops "frozen out." 



Drills are not much used in Nebraska, and scarcely at all among the 

 mountains or on the Pacific coast. 



The following table gives the number of counties reporting; the pro- 

 portionate area represented compared with the entire winter-wheat area 

 of each State ; the proportion of this area sown and drilled, respectively; 

 the estimated increase of product by drilliog over that obtained^ by 



