drills, it is considered so important by our farmers in this county tliat you 

 scarcely see a field of wheat sown broadcast. Last winter was so severe upon 

 the broadcast that I do not believe a single farmer will attempt to sow wheat 

 broadcast this fall." 



McDonough county. — "As to the relative merits of sowing wheat broadcast 

 or by drill, all I can say is that drilling has gone out of vogue very nearly in 

 the last three years. We used to drill a good deal of our wheat, but of late 

 drills are seldom seen, by which I infer that drilling has not been regarded with 

 much favor." 



Jersey county. — " It is only when stumps or corn-stubs are in the way that 

 broadcast sowing is resorted to. Some of our best farmers harrow after the 

 drill, some roll before and after, but the surest way is to have the ground rough 

 enough to mellow down with the frost. I have tried all ways. One year I 

 sowed half a bushel per acre, and harrowed after the drill, and reaped forty 

 bushels per acre. Last year I rolled some after the drill, mashing all the ridges 

 down; it made the poorest Avheat I had. The ground alongside, not rolled 

 after, but before the drill, made double the wheat. The theory amongst our 

 farmers is to make the ground solid, leave the drill-ridges to stand, and sow from 

 the 1 5th to 25th of September." 



'* As to broadcast and drill sowing for wheat which youspeak of, the former 

 is by far the most successful ; but to do neither is the most profitable in central 

 Illinois, where twelve bushels of wheat are above the average yield per 

 acre." 



INDIANA. 



Ripley county. — "The wheat was very much winter-killed, but the warm 

 wet weather has revived it very much ; and as regards the difference in drilled 

 wheat and that sown broadcast as to Avinter-killing, there has not been much 

 drilled in this county, but it shows the superiority of drilling." 



Allen county. — " In regard to the difference in winter wheat drilled in or 

 sown broadcast, it is largely in favor of the drilling where the ground is 

 properly prepared. It should be thoroughly pulverized, either by harrowing or 

 rolling, or both if necessary. When the ground is rough and cloddy, it is the 

 experience of our farmers that wheat does better sown broadcast. Few of 

 our farmers in this vicinity realize the great advantages to be derived from the 

 thorough preparation of the soil before planting. To the majority of them 

 under-draining, subsoiling, rolling, and a regular system of cropping and ma- 

 nuring are subjects that receive no attention in preparing for seeding, and the 

 result is always too plainly manifested in short and inferior crops at harvest." 



Parke county. — " There is more difference this spason than ever before between 

 wheat sown with the drill and broadcast. The drilled is decidedly the best ; it 

 will yield one-third more to the acre than the broadcast." 



Howard county. — " Our wheat crops are better than ever known since our 

 county has been settled. Drilled wheat is the best, and in the coming year 

 there will be little, if any, sown broadcast." 



Huntington county. — " In my report for April and May I felt authorized to 

 say, in reference to wheat sown by drill and broadcast, that that sown by the 

 drill was not apparently injured, while that sown by the other method was 

 seriously. Since that time quite an improvement was made in the appearance 

 of that sown broadcast, and, had we not suffered so severely from drought, our 

 crop would have been above an average. One of our most careful and judicioiis 

 farmers states that while his drilled wheat seemed to stand the winter better 

 than that sown broadcast, still at harvest this last was the best in every particular. 

 His broadcast did not svffer much from freezing. So, too, some others of our 

 observing farmers hold the opinion that if as much care be taken in the prepara- 



