CHAPTER XXV. 



OTHER POINTS IN WHEAT CULTURE. 



NEED hardly say that the best known way of put- 

 ting in winter wheat is with a good drill that 

 deposits the grain uniformly. Still, I have raised 

 an average of 35 bushels per acre for five years in 

 succession put in broadcast with the seeder at- 

 tached to my old sulky cultivator. On drained, 

 moist land it is all right, but in a dry fall, when wheat must be 

 put in almost in dust, it comes up much better when drilled in. 

 My potato stubble is quite apt to be dry, and one or two expe- 

 riences of this kind, where my wheat failed to come up as evenly 

 and quickly as what was drilled in, made me decide to always 

 drill. You know they have wheels and shoes to follow the drill 

 hoes and gauge the depth that they run and press the soil over the 

 wheat. I thought them to be a nice thing at first. They are on 

 unevenly prepared land, beyond doubt. But on land made as 

 uniformly fine and firm as mine, I can see no advantage in using 

 them after two careful trials. The wheat came up no quicker, nor 

 did it stand the winter any better. I believe in shallow sowing in 

 fine, firm soil (soil fine clear to the surface, and no lumps). I want 

 no wheat put down more than an inch, unless it is so dry that I 

 fear it will not germinate at that depth, when I would put it a 

 little deeper to get through the dry surface. Of course, I would 

 not sow until moist if I could help it, but sometimes it is late 

 before we can get the potatoes off, anyway, and if it happens to 

 be dry we are afraid to wait longer. I find that my drill with the 

 teeth set way forward and the soil well rolled, will put the grain 

 down just about an inch deep, and as uniformly as one need have 

 it. I do not suppose one-half an inch, more or less, makes any 

 particular difference; but I want it near the surface. I have often 

 seen men drilling where the hoes went down in places three or 

 four inches, and, perhaps, in other parts of the field not half as 

 much. Wheels on the hoes would pay them, because then, if they 

 were properly set, they could not bury any of the seed too deep. 

 As to the time of sowing, it makes a difference where you live. 

 In general, I prefer to take my chances in sowing rather early. 

 I find farmers pretty generally think this way where they have 

 been successful ? as wheat growers. The weak point in our rota- 

 tion is our inability to get potatoes off in time to sow as early as 

 we want to, some years. Here, in Northern Ohio, I would sow 

 about the 8th of September earlier or later, as the conditions 



