366 



THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



Raywood canal Abbott land 



Net depth of water received by 

 the land, inches . 



12.9 



12.0 



III. CULTURAL METHODS. 



513. Preparation of Seed Bed. — Two methods of prep^^-ing 

 the soil are followed, known as dry culture and wet cuL 

 ture. In the former the land is plowed in the fall and winter, 

 preferably soon after the former crop has been harvested. In 

 wet culture, the land is flooded in the spring, plowed and seed 

 sown and harrowed in the water, after which the water is with- 

 drawn to permit the rice to germinate. Wet culture is commonly 

 practiced upon the buckshot soil because of the difficulty of 

 plowing it when it is dry. Plowing is usually shallow, some- 

 times not more than three inches deep. Machinery and the 

 animals drawing it usually sink to the depth of the plowed land ; 

 thus deep plowing adds to the labor, especially in the prairie 

 regions where modern harvesting machinery is used. Whatever 

 the customary depth of plowing, it is considered dangerous to 

 plow deeper because of the accumulation of alkali in the subsoil 

 just below the plow line. It is said, however, that where such 

 deeper plowing is done, the alkali may in a measure be washed 

 out by flooding and draining immediately after plowing. 



514. Sowing. — The date of sowing may vary from the 

 middle of March to the middle of May. Where dry culture 

 is practiced the sowing is earlier than with wet culture. On 



