11 



nitrogen and humus to the soil, but also prevents, or at least View - 

 largely reduces, leaching. 



SEED AND SEEDING. 



Seed wheat, besides being all of one variety, also should be 

 heavy, plump, and free from dirt, weed seeds, and injured or 

 immature kernels. A pure variety is always to be preferred 

 to a mixture of varieties, however slight this may be. Heavy 

 seed promotes stooling and the production of strong plants, 

 and increases yield and quality of grain as well as yield of straw. 

 In most cases where heavy seed has been compared with small 27 

 or light seed, the results have been in favor of the heavy seed. 

 Some injured or immature seed may sprout successfully, but, 

 due to insufficient food supply or imperfectly developed germs, 28 

 the plants soon die. Wheat that has become heated or moldy 

 in storage may not grow at all or else have only a low percentage 

 of germination. It is advisable, therefore, to make a germina- 

 tion test to determine the vitality and the viability of the seed. 

 This may be done by placing the kernels between folds of cloth 

 or blotting paper, one end of which is placed in water so that the 

 moisture is supplied through capillarity, and keeping this im- 

 provised germinator at the ordinary room temperature, never 

 allowing it to fall below 50 F. Wheat cleaned with a fanning 

 mill is used for seed generally, but a much better way, although 

 little practiced, is to select each year from the best plants grown 

 on a special seed plat the best seeds for use in planting the seed 

 plat for the foUowing season, and use the rest of the seed-plat 

 crop for sowing the general field. 



The time of sowing is determined by the season, the variety 

 of the wheat, the nature and fertility of the soil, the altitude 

 and latitude of the locality, and sometimes by the prevalence of 

 insect enemies, especially the Hessian fly, and existing weather 

 conditions. In the North winter wheat is sown earlier and 

 spring wheat later than in the South. In the southern winter- 

 wheat regions the seed is preferably sown lae in September 

 or early in October; in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and 

 Nebraska, from September 10 to 20; and in some of the extreme 

 northern winter-wheat regions, as early as the last week in 

 August or the first week in September. Spring wheat gen- 

 erally is sown as soon in the spring as the seed bed can be 

 prepared properly. 



The germination, stooling process, and underground growth 

 of winter wheat takes place when the soil temperature is from 

 42 to 50 F. When this temperature prevails for a sufficient 

 length of time during winter the wheat stools and produces 



