CULTURE OF WHEAT 77 



123. Time and Manner of Applying Commercial Fertilizers. — 

 Commercial fertilizers are applied to wheat lands by sowing 

 broadcast just in front of the wheat drill or by applying at the 

 same time the wheat is drilled by a fertilizer attachment. 

 The latter method is much to be preferred. In some cases 

 an additional application of nitrogen is made to winter wheat 

 by sowing nitrate of soda broadcast in the spring. At the 

 experiment stations it has been customary to apply one- 

 fourth of the nitrogen in the fall, often in the form of dried 

 blood, and the rest of the nitrogen in the spring in the form of 

 nitrate of soda, on the theory that if all the nitrogen is applied 

 in the fall in a soluble form, much of it would be lost through 

 drainage during the winter. Where nitrogen is applied in the 

 spring, care should be taken to apply it before the wheat plant 

 has made much growth. (113) 



In case lime is used, it should be spread upon the plowed 

 land three or four days before seeding, immediately harrowed in 

 and allowed to remain until all lumps which may be present have 

 slaked, when the ground should be stirred again, preferably with 

 a spring tooth harrow. 



124. Farm Manure. — Farm manure is usually applied to 

 some other crop in the rotation, as maize, rather than directly 

 to the wheat If applied directly to wheat land, better results 

 will be obtained by applying 200 tons to twenty acres of 

 wheat than by applying the same amount to ten acres. If the 

 preceding crop has been oats, the manure should be spread 

 as soon as possible after the oats are cut and the land plowed. 

 It is desirable that the manure should be well rotted, where 

 rainfall is liable to be deficient. Beginning with a virgin soil, 

 the Central Experiment Farm has found, however, after sixteen 

 years that fresh and well-rotted manure applied in equa^. 

 weights gave equal yields of grain and straw, while barnyard 

 manure gave considerably higher yields than any fonn of 

 commercial fertilizers, and about twice the yield of plots not 



