THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 133 



its capacity for absorbing the surplus water would be 

 greatly increased ; and the wheat growing on it would 

 be very little injured by freezing and thawing ; and it 

 would suffer less for want of moisture in a dry time. 



Another important feature of a good wheat soil is 

 a bountiful supply of nitrogenous matter and silica. 

 When a soil is nearly destitute of these ingredients, the 

 ears of wheat will always be short and light, and the 

 kernels of grain quite small. In fertile loams, there is 

 usually a pretty good supply of both substances. "Where 

 nitrogenous matter exists only in limited abundance, it- 

 may be supplied in good barn-yard manure, made by 

 animals which subsist largely on coarse grain and oil- 

 meal. Such manure will always produce great heads 

 and large, plump kernels of grain. Silica is essential to 

 produce a healthy, bright, and stiff straw. This may be 

 supplied by spreading on a few hundred bushels of sand 

 per acre, after the wheat is put in, and sowing eight to 

 ten bushels of unleachecl ashes per acre, the next spring, 

 or even during a dry time in winter, when ashes would 

 not be washed away by high water. There are thou- 

 sands of acres of inferior wheat soil in our country that 

 might be made to yield remunerating crops of this kind 

 of grain, by following the directions just given. 



The Culture of Wheat Chemically Considered. 



At one of the meetings of the New York State Ag- 

 ricultural Society, Hon. D. Lee made the following re- 

 marks touching the culture of wheat, which, I think, 

 will be read with no little interest. He said : 



" By the aid of a little practical science, good wheat 

 may be grown profitably in any county in the State. 



