THE WHEAT CTJLTURIST. 163 



ual is an illustration of the usual style of subsoil 

 ploughs, accompanied with suitable remarks about sub- 

 soiling different kinds of land. Consequently, my notes 

 in this place are brief, on the subject of ploughing. 



Remedy for the Lodging of Grain. 



It has been assumed that the stiffness of the straw 

 of cereal grain and the roughness and serrated edges 

 of the leaves of all cereal plants, are due to the presence 

 of the silica in the formation of the various parts of 

 the plants just alluded to ; and it has been shown by 

 chemical analysis that the straw and leaves of plants 

 that are rich in silica are exceedingly stiff and hard. 

 Wheat straw generally, being much harder and harsher 

 to handle with the bare hands than oats or barley straw, 

 it has been assumed that the straw of this kind of grain 

 contains a larger proportion of silica than the straw of 

 oats or barley, which is always much softer when han- 

 dled by those who are binding the grain in bundles. 

 Pierri, a distinguished French chemist, has reported 

 some interesting experiments touching the subject of 

 applying preparations of silica in a soluble state to the 

 soil where the plants are to be grown, for the purpose 

 of furnishing material that would render the straw so 

 rigid and stiff that it would maintain an erect position, 

 and thus greatly enhance the yield of grain per acre. 

 This chemist ascertained that the leaves of wheat con- 

 tain seven or eight times as much silica as the joints of 

 the same stalks to which both belonged, and the por- 

 tions of the straw between the joints yielded nearly 

 twice the amount of silica that was found in the joints. 

 Arguing from these data, some writers have concluded 



