WHEAT 85 



If it is mellow, harrowing may be all that is necessary. The 

 object of early plowing and preparing is to allow the connec- 

 tion of the furrow-slice to be reestablished with the under- 

 soil. If no rolling or harrowing is done, the plowed land 

 will dry out and be drier than if it had not been plowed. 

 The field should be harrowed several times before the wheat 

 is sown. If it is plowed six weeks before sowing, it would 

 be well to harrow once a week until the wheat is sown. This 

 would keep the weeds killed out and would stir the soil so 

 that the sun and air would have a chance to make plant food 

 ready for the young plants. The bacteria in the soil will be 

 more active when the soil is plowed early and prepared in 

 this way. 



Frequently wheat is sown in standing corn or after the corn 

 has been cut. On fertile land this will usually give good re- 

 sults, but the wheat can hardly ever be put in in as good shape 

 as when sown on plowed land. Also, the corn plants have 

 used up a good deal of the ready plant food in the soil and 

 the young wheat plants are likely to suffer from lack of food. 

 If wheat is sown on corn ground, the land should be cut up 

 with a disk harrow and then leveled with a spike-tooth harrow. 

 A spring-tooth harrow also does good work in loosening the 

 soil in the place of a disk harrow. 



Date of Sowing. — The best date to sow wheat cannot be 

 definitely stated. It will depend mainly upon the latitude of 

 the place. The Hessian fly is likely to attack the early sown 

 wheat, and when there is danger from this attack sowing 

 should not be done until after the date of the depositing of 

 the fly's eggs. This date can be found out by writing to the 

 Entomologist of your Experiment Station. It is desirable 

 to sow rather early in the autumn, if possible, because in so 



