WHEAT. 185 



$118.95. The cost of this wheat per bushel was a fraction 

 above 45 cents. 



The same fall I plowed ten acres of the same field, as the 

 clover failed on it, and the account stands as follows : 



Breaking, $15 00 



Thirty-eight loads manure, ..... 19 00 



Bone-meal, ... ... 12 00 



Harrowing, rolling, and stirring, ... 13 00 



Nine bushels of seed wheat, 9 00 



Drilling, . . . . . . . . . 4 00 



Rent of land, eight per cent on valuation, $30.00, per acre, 24 00 



Harvesting, actual cost, 16 15 



Total, $112 15 



The field averaged fifteen bushels per acre, and cost 75 cents 

 per bushel. The crop was sold at $1.05 from the machine. The 

 reader will notice that less than one bushel of seed to the acre 

 was used on all these fields, and that the heaviest yield was from 

 three pecks of seed. I do not mention this as an argument for 

 thin seeding, for the experiments elsewhere referred to seem to 

 show that thick seeding gives the best results, but to show that, 

 in some seasons and with some varieties, heavy crops are cer- 

 tainly grown from thin seeding. The greatest benefit I have de- 

 rived from keeping accounts with my wheat crop has been in 

 noticing the sure decrease in cost per bushel as the yield per 

 acre increased, and that the extra work and fertilizers were what 

 gave the greatest profit. I believe that, if we could induce our 

 wheat-growers to spend one dollar an acre in extra work on 

 their wheat land in the way of pulverizing, it would add from 

 three to ten bushels per acre to the crop, and largely reduce the 

 cost per bushel. 



I have spoken of the value of clover as a fertilizer to the 

 wheat crop, and recommended that it always be sown with it. 

 Clover, under certain circumstances, benefits wheat in another 

 way. We occasionally have a bad wheat season when the fall 

 is unfavorable and the crop makes a poor start, and much of it 

 winter kills, and spring finds the wheat very thin on the ground. 

 Under these circumstances I have often known the crop to ripen 

 prematurely, and shrink so as to be scarcely worth gathering, 



