THE WHEAT CULTTJRIST. 141 



great West — in order to be able to raise bountiful crops 

 of fair wheat. Straw is not what farmers desire. There 

 is an inexhaustible supply of material for making a 

 heavy burden of straw; but the material for swelling 

 out large and plump kernels of fine wheat, is to be found 

 only in limited quantities. 



Those farmers who have attempted to grow wheat for 

 several successive years on the prairies, experience the 

 very difficulties that I have alluded to. This fact 

 proves, most conclusively, that thorough culture is emi- 

 nently essential to a bountiful crop of wheat ; and it 

 shows, also, that even the fertile prairie soils must be 

 fattened or the wheat crop will be light. 



The question then arises, How may such a task be 

 performed ? What to do and how to do it comes in, at 

 this juncture, with wonderful pertinence. Well, what 

 do we desire to do ? Why, simply to maintain a high 

 degree of fertility in the soil, so as to produce a bounti- 

 ful yield of grain. Straw is not the object. A heavy 

 dressing of straw applied to the soil only augments the 

 crop of straw, which is, in some respects, more of a 

 nuisance than an advantage. If all the grain be re- 

 moved from the farm, and none of the refuse of the 

 kernels be returned in the form of manure to fatten the 

 soil, I reiterate what I have so often expressed, that the 

 heads of grain will be short, and the kernels few and 

 small. 



It will not subserve the grand purpose under consid- 

 eration, to remove the wheat and return the straw to 

 the land, as many of the proprietors of the prairie farms 

 have been accustomed to do. It is absolutely essential 

 to adopt a judicious system of rotation of crops in con- 

 nection with a system of mixed husbandry, in order to 



