GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. Ill 



in wheat and most of the cereal grasses to tiller or send out 

 new shoots for future stalks. This is a law of these plant*, 

 which compels them to make the greatest effort to cover the 

 whole ground, and sometimes a single seed will throw 

 out more than 100 stalks. In early sowing, the wheat tillers 

 in the autumn ; in late sowing this is done in part only till 

 the ensuing spring. Thick sowing is a substitute for tiller- 

 ing to the extent that would otherwise be induced, and is 

 equivalent to earlier sowing of a smaller quantity. The time 

 for sowing in our Northern states is from the 10th to 20th 

 September. If sown earlier it is liable to attack from the 

 Hessian fly, and if later, it docs not have time to root as well, 

 and is in more danger of being thrown out by the frost or of 

 winter killing. Late sowing is also more subject to rust the 

 following season from its later ripening. 



SOWING. When the ground has been well mellowed, the 

 seed may be sown broadcast and thoroughly harrowed in. 

 Rolling is a good practice as it presses the earth closely upon 

 the seed and facilitates germination, and as soon as the seed 

 is covered the water furrows should be cleaned out, and again 

 late in autumn and early in the following spring. In nor- 

 them Europe it has been found a preventive against winter 

 killing on strong clays, to sow the wheat in the bottom of 

 each furrow 6 inches deep, and cover it with the succeeding 

 one. The wheat thus planted, comes up as soon as on the 

 fields sown broadcast and harrowed, grows more vigorously, 

 withstands the winters and produces large crops. Lightly 

 plowing in wheat is perhaps under any circumstances better 

 than harrowing, as the wheat is thereby all buried, and at a 

 more suitable depth than can be done by the harrow. The 

 roughness of the furrows when left without harrowing, is 

 advantageous in heavy or clay lands, and only injurious in 

 light or sandy. 



AFTER CULTURE. Harrowing in the spring by loosening 

 the soil, adds to the growth of the crop, and the loss of the 

 few plants is much more than compensated by the rapid 

 tillering and vigor of those which remain. Sowing in drills 

 and hoeing between them is much practiced in Europe. 

 The additional amount thus frequently raised would seem to 

 justify the adoption of this mode of cultivation in this coun- 

 try; and it should at least be done so far as to give it a fair 

 trial. On light soils, rolling the wheat both in fall and 

 spring is highly advantageous. When the growth is luxu- 

 riant, decided benefit has attended feeding off the wheat on 



