CULTURE OF WHEAT 8» 



seeding may be done with safety, as the rich soil produces 

 the growth needed in a shoiter time. Wheat often suffers 

 in the fall from lack of rainfall. It is seldom injured from an 

 excess of rainfall. As the time and manner of preparing the 

 seed bed materially affects the moisture of the soil, the prepa- 

 ration of the seed bed may have a decided influence upon the 

 time of sowing. The earlier and better the seed bed is prepared 

 the later the seeding is permissible. On the fortieth parallel 

 at an altitude of 500 to 1,000 feet, winter wheat should be so\mi 

 generally about September 20th, with variations of a week 

 either way, depending upon various factors indicated above. 



WTiile obviously not as many factors enter into the time of 

 seeding of spring wheat as winter wheat, climatic and seasonal 

 variations necessitate as wide variations perhaps in the fonner 

 as in the latter. It may be laid down as a general rule that 

 spring wheat should be sown as early as the ground can be got 

 in fit condition for seeding. In both North Dakota and Minn- 

 esota the earlier sown spring wheats gave best results, while in 

 Utah a medium date gave the best yields. Delay of t^vo or 

 more weeks in sowing caused marked losses where conditions 

 were those of Ontario and Quebec. In other provinces the loss 

 from dtelay in sowing was less marked. Seeding should be finished 

 by May ist in Ontario and Quebec, and in other provinces from 

 May 15th to 25th. ^ 



130. Depth of Sowing. — This will vary with the kind of soil, 

 the moisUire, and the levelness and the firmness of the seed 

 bed. Wheat may be sown deeper in a sandy soil than in a 

 clay soil. It is necessar\' to sow deeper in a dry than in 

 a wet soil. Variations in rainfall often materially modify the 

 depth of seeding. It is reasonably well established that, under 

 ordinary conditions, the nearer the seed is covered with one 

 inch of moist soil, the better. An uneven and cloddy soil 

 would require that some be planted deeper than is desirable 



t Cent. Expt Farni, Canada, Bui. 21. 



