WHEAT. 171 



the soil without moisture, and the field which is allowed to be 

 baked and hard for some weeks previous to seeding time, loses 

 the cheapest and best source of fertility which is at the com- 

 mand of the farmer. 



If any of my readers think I am giving undue promi- 

 nence to this matter of pulverization, I would recommend that 

 they test it on a strip in the field, and continue the experiment 

 for a series of years that they may hit both dry and wet seasons. 

 I am sure that the experiment will result in convincing them that 

 thorough preparation of the seed-bed is one of the most import- 

 ant points connected with the crop. 



There are seasons when it is impossible on account of dry 

 weather to plow early for wheat; and when the plowing must be 

 done just before sowing, I would recommend that it be shallow, 

 four or at most five inches. A deep, loose seed bed holds too 

 much water, and if we can not have our land settled and compact 

 it is best to plow only what we can thoroughly pulverize, and 

 I think that four inches of soil made fine and mellow is better 

 than eight less thoroughly fined. The seed is also likely to be 

 covered too deeply on the loose soil. 



Wheat on Corn Lands. There are many farmers who 

 think it slipshod farming to sow wheat on corn land ; but on a 

 farm where a large breadth of land is devoted to corn, and in a 

 locality too far south to find oats reliable or profitable, it be- 

 comes a necessity in our rotation to seed corn-land to wheat. I 

 seed more or less in this way each year, and grow full average 

 crops, frequently obtaining twenty-five to thirty bushels to the 

 acre in this manner; and my neighbor, L. N. Bonham, grew 

 on corn-land a crop that averaged thirty-eight bushels. I do 

 not sow in the standing corn, but cut and shock the corn before 

 seeding. Mr. Bonham, whom I have just mentioned, one year 

 seeded a corn-field to wheat, sowing one-half of the field in the 

 standing corn, and cutting off the corn on the other half. Equal 

 care was taken in the preparation of the land in each case and 

 the wheat put in with a one-horse drill, but the yield on the 

 portion where the corn was cut up before seeding was more than 

 double that on the other half. 



