408 THE SMALL GRAINS 



In Idaho, it is recommended to sow winter wheat at 30 to 40 

 pounds, and spring wheat at 35 to 45 pounds an acre. 



433. Depth of seeding. In this area, it would seem 

 to be necessary, because of the dry surface, to sow usually 

 a little deeper than in the Eastern area, in order to get 

 the seed into moist soil. Nevertheless, results of experi- 

 ments appear more often to favor comparatively shallow 

 seeding, though the results so far in Utah are not decisive. 



- At the Moro, Oregon, substation, shallow seeding of winter wheat, 



1 to 1^ inches, gave better results than deep seeding, 3| inches. In 

 this case, however, it may be noted that the deep seeding was some- 

 what deeper than is necessary to be called deep seeding. About 

 1^ inches is the depth recommended by the Oregon Experiment 

 Station, and deep seeding (3 to 4 inches) late in the fall is said to be 

 particularly undesirable. 



In South Australia, where conditions are similar to those of a 

 large part of this area, 3 years' experiments were conducted by Per- 

 kins and Spafford (1912) on the depth of sowing of some agricultural 

 seeds, in light sandy soil, and heavy clay loam, from which they 

 concluded that the optimum depth of seeding for wheat, barley, and 

 oats, in the two kinds of soil, is as follows : In light sandy soil, 

 wheat 1 to 2 inches, barley 1^ to 2| inches, oats 1| to 2| inches; 

 in heavy clay loam, wheat 1 inch, barley 1 to 2 inches, oats 1^ to 



2 inches. Barley and oats could always be safely seeded deeper 

 than wheat. 



434. Why shallow seeding is preferable. That shal- 

 low seeding is found preferable in practice, even in a dry 

 climate, may perhaps be partially explained in this way. 

 There is almost always a period so dry after seeding that 

 the grain will not come up anyway, sown at any depth. 

 If, therefore, in deep planting, some kernels find just 

 sufficient moisture to germinate them, or injure their 

 vitality, but not enough to bring them up, it would have 

 been better for them had they been sown shallow and 



