TILLERING OF WHEAT. TT 
as the necessities of these secondary stems, to which they 
are the purveyors, seem to require. The external devel- 
opment of a new side shoot is always simultaneous with 
the issue of a new set of roots springing directly from it, 
while the growth of the proper roots of the central stem 
is not retarded by this process, being more widely extended 
at that time, and the surrounding earth not being exhausted 
of nutritive materials. At a later period, however, this 
exhaustion occurs; but then the widely branching roots 
seek a fresh supply of food beyond the circle which at first 
supplied their wants. An increase of side shoots, there- 
fore, is always an index of an increased development of 
the root. Extensive tillering of wheat is always an evi- 
dence of vigor and hardihood. Where this does not occur, 
either the ground is too poor to afford nutrition to new 
roots to sustain new stems, or the weather during the early 
growth of the plant has been too mild, and the single central 
stalk has been pushed forward too fast, the natural period of 
rest before ‘shooting ” not being long enough to allow of 
the formation of a more widely extended root surface than 
is necessary for the supply of a single stem, or it is the 
result of too thick sowing, the development of the roots 
being similarly restricted. In all those cases where but a 
single stalk is produced, it grows up sometimes of average 
size, but oftener weak and thin, and from the same cause, 
viz. hinderance of root development. On the other hand, 
when not too thickly sown, and when the soil and season 
are favorable to its wants, instead of a solitary stalk and a 
single meager ear, each seed gives to the grasp of the 
reaper a clump of healthy stems and nodding heads, pro- 
ducing a hundredfold. 
Tillering, therefore, is a natural process, conducive 
in a, high:degree to the health and vigor of the plant. 
Let us now consider whether the discordant statements 
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