A Rainless Wheat 



begin to get hard and crack on the surface a light 

 harrow is run over it, which prevents the escape 

 of moisture and the drying out of the soil. 

 Also, after every rain, the ground is harrowed, 

 and the dry soil-blanket restored. A whole 

 year is devoted to such soil culture, and then in 

 the month of May the wheat is sown. It is not 

 necessarv to wait for rain, as the soil is then so 

 moist that the seed can be sown at any time. 

 The seed is sown with an ordinary drill, which 

 deposits it underneath the dry soil-blanket. 

 When the young plants are a few inches above 

 the ground a light harrow, called a weeder, is run 

 through them. This treatment, which was at 

 first viewed with much surprise by the farmers 

 of South Africa, has proved most successful. 

 It prevents the evaporation of soil moisture, 

 renews the soil-blanket, and restores the vitality 

 of the crop. It may be continued until the 

 wheat is eight to ten inches high or even more. 

 Wheat sown in the winter-time — viz. during 

 the month of May — is reaped in November, 

 before the season of rust, which usually occurs 

 in midsummer — that is to say, December, 

 January, and February. This is, of course, a 

 point of the utmost importance to the wheat- 

 grower. Such was the method by which the 

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