444 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



The loams are primarily corn lands, but in connection with corn 

 culture are well suited to spring wheat. Very light, loose or sandy 

 soils and wet, peaty, sour lands are unfit for the wheat crop. 



Drainage is necessary to a profitable development of the wheat 

 plant, and a permeable subsoil is especially important during the 

 most active stages of its growth and to winter wheat also in the 

 late fall and winter. Where the subsoil is not sufficiently permeable, 

 proper drainage should be provided by putting down tile, as this 

 is generally the most satisfactory and economical method of draining. 



The character of the soil influences the yield to a greater extent 

 than it affects the quality, which is largely controlled by climatic 

 conditions. That the two factors are closely connected is shown by 

 the durum wheats, which require rich humus soils and hot and dry 

 seasons. Rich "oils increase the protein content of the grain and 

 also tend to increase its hardiness. 



Deep plowing is not of general value and often seems to affect 

 the yield of straw more than the yield of grain. Plowing from 4 to 

 6 inches deep is adequate, especially if the land is in good tilth. 

 Subsoiling is expensive and frequently unprofitable in wheat cul- 

 ture. On friable and mellow soils plowing is unnecessary if the 

 land was well cultivated the year before in connection with growing 

 corn. On such land a seed bed can be prepared by disking or cul- 

 tivating and harrowing. 



If the plowing is done when it is too wet the soil is likely to 

 harden or bake, and if done when too dry the ground remains rough 

 and lumpy. It should be remembered that in growing wheat and 

 other similar plants the tillage of the crop, as it were, is performed 

 before and at the time the seed is sown. In the semiarid regions the 

 success of the crop depends often entirely upon the careful and 

 thorough cultural treatment given the land. 



Corn stubble should be broken down to the ground when the 

 soil is frozen. For this purpose a heavy square timber or a railroad 

 iron drawn by hitching one or two horses to either end can be 

 utilized. Cornstalk cutters are in some cases useful, but a sharp 

 disk harrow often makes it unnecessary to use a stalk cutter, even 

 where the corn was husked from the standing stalks. In some cases 

 it will be wise to thoroughly pulverize the corn stubble land before 

 seeding, so that a drill may be used to advantage. In Bother cases 

 the better plan is to sow the wheat broadcast and cover with the disk 

 harrow, the corn cultivator, or other implement which will turn the 

 soil up to the depth of two or three inches. In case a farmer has only 

 a shoe drill, that implement may be successfully used instead of 

 the broadcast seeder, where the disk is to follow the sowing. By 

 drilling the wheat in shallow, it is so placed that it will be turned 

 under by the disk or other cultivator. Any good method which 

 plants the wheat at the proper depth and leaves the surface soil 

 level and smooth will succeed. 



Grass sod should be fall-plowed for wheat. Early plowing is 

 often the better for timothy, while in case there is growing^ a heavy 

 second crop of clover it is wiser to defer the plowing until a crop 



