SOU, CULTURE MANUAL 263 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



KILLING OF AUTUMN SOWN GRAIN. 



The question of winter killing of autumn sown grain 

 in the semi-arid belt is one that called forth much dis- 

 cussion along in the nineties, but of recent years we hear 

 but little except an occasional comment in a severe cold 

 period during the winter months, when the fields are bare. 

 This fact is largely due to better fitting of the soil bed by 

 the farmers generally. 



Few people realize just why autumn sown grain winter 

 kills. Years of careful observation have proven conclu- 

 sively that it is invariably due to a loose seed and root 

 bed and little moisture. We have never seen any apparent 

 signs of winter killing on any part of a field that had been 

 summer tilled except where water had stood for some 

 length of time and frozen. 



In the autum of 1898 a great portion of Kansas and 

 Nebraska had very little rain, in short but little rain fell 

 after the middle of August, except in the extreme eastern 

 part of the two states, therefore a large amount of fall 

 wheat was sown in soil plowed and fitted rather dry. Rain 

 was sufficient to germinate most fields of wheat, but the 

 winter was open with frequent freezes, and when spring 

 came much wheat was found to be dead. The writer was 

 asked to investigate and gave much time to the question. 

 Over a considerable scope of the country we found the fol- 

 lowing facts and conditions to be uniformly true. 



Through the major part of all fields, the wheat was 



