30 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



improperly supplied with moisture. Later in the season 

 when the soil is warmer and plants grow more quickly, 

 it is well to plant the seed deeper, from two to three inches, 

 thus giving the plants a better chance to get moisture. 



The depth to plant should vary also with the soil. In 

 light, dry soil one should sow deeper than in heavy, wet soil. 

 Questions: 



1. What three conditions must a seed have before it can grow? 



2. What can you saj'' of time of planting? 



3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of shallow and 

 deep planting? 



Arithmetic: 



1. If the average vield of wheat in the United States is 14.8 

 bus. per acre, what is the average value of an acre of at 85c. per bushel? 



2. If it costs $13.00 to produce an acre of wheat, what is the 

 average profit per acre? (See example No. 1.) 



3. If the average yield of oats in the United States is 30 bus. 

 per acre, what is the value of an average acre of oats at 38c. per bu.? 



4. If it costs $13.00 to produce an acre of oats, what is the aver- 

 age profit per acre? 



Exercises: 



1. Visit fields in your neighborhood where plowing is being done 

 and be sure you can answer the following questions: Are the furrows 

 straight? How deep is the land plowed? Are weeds and stubble 

 being covered? Is the land well pulverized or is it lumpy? Is the 

 plowed land higher or lower than the unplowed land? At what time 

 of year is most of the plowing done in yom- neighborhood? Do some 

 men plow better than others? If, so, in what ways? 



2. To see how water moves in the soil by capillarity, put the end 

 of a lump of sugar into water or coffee and notice movement of the liquid 

 through it. Take another cube of sugar and put on top of it all the 

 finely pulverized sugar you can get to stay on. (Granulated sugar 

 will not do.) Touch the bottom of the loaf to the water. Note rise 

 of water through cube and note that it stops when it gets to the pul- 

 verized sugar. This shows you how proper cultivation of the soil 

 may save moisture by preventing it from reaching the surface where 

 it would be evaporated. The water will pass up through the pulverized 

 sugar in a few minutes because the sugar will dissolve. It would not 

 do this if you had finely pulverized soil in place of sugar because the 

 soil would not dissolve in the water. 



3. It will be an interesting experiment to plant short rows of 

 seeds at different times and at different depths and to watch results. 

 Early in the spring plant four short rows of wheat cr oats with ten or 

 fifteen good kernels in each row. In the first row plant the seeds 

 one, two, three and four inches deep respectively in the different rows. 

 Note the time required for the plants to come up, the number of plants 

 that grow, and the strength of the plants. Repeat the experiment 

 later when the soil is warm. 



