f(30 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



the whole surface is as fine as the garden bed, if you would get 

 the largest crops. 



SowiXG THE Seed. Early and late sowing. If there were no 

 Hessian fly in the land, the last of August would undoubtedly 

 be the best time to sow wheat in the Northern States, but early 

 sown wheat is liable to be destroyed by this pest. AVe think, 

 then, that .in the northernmost tier of wheat-growing Slates, 

 sowing should rather be delayed, until the last week of Septem- 

 ber, unless there occurs a sharp frost previous to that time. 

 Let the intervening time be spent in thoroughly preparing the 

 soil, so that the seed, when sown, may find no difficulties in the 

 vv^ay of an immediate and thrifty growth. If you must sow in 

 soil not fattened, and enriched, and deeply mellowed, you must 

 plant earl}'-, so that the grain will get a fair growth before the 

 winter sets in. The depth to cover seeds, must be deter- 

 mined by all the circumstances of the case. ' If there were no 

 frosts, undoubtedly six inches would J^ as good depth as any to 

 cover wheat, but when we take into consideration the cer- 

 tainty of frosts, and the injury they do by breaking off the 

 roots of the plants, we conclude that shallow planting is more 

 desirable. Two inches in an ordinary wheat soil is sufficient , 

 of course a very light sandy soil requires greater depth. The 

 amount of seed to the acre, depends upon the quality and 

 condition of the soil. In a poor and imperfectly prepared soil, 

 a large proportion of the seed does not germinate, and what 

 does get a start, iillers but little, and two and a half or three 

 bushels of seed per acre, is often required to produce a crop of 

 from eight to fifteen bushels per acre. This is poor farming, 

 because it keeps both the land and the owner poor. A much 

 better s^^stem is that which so fattens and prepares the land, 

 that from one to one and a half bushels of seed will suffice for 

 •^^ crop of from twenty-five to forty-five bushels. One bushel 



