WHEAT, OATS, RYE, AND BARLEY 139 



Preparation of land. Good preparation should be 

 given to the land intended for wheat. This grain requires a 

 seed-bed that at the time of planting is compact or settled 

 in the lower layers but loose and fine in the upper ones. 

 This is best secured by plowing land for wheat a number 

 of weeks before sowing the seed. Then pulverize the 

 clods with a harrow. 



Unfortunately, some farmers seem to think that any kind 

 of preparation or none at all is good enough for oats. An 

 oat seed is well protected by its hull and can lie for weeks 

 uninjured among dry clods. But, nevertheless, oats should 

 not be deeply buried under large clods, for this makes 

 the plants come up at different dates and ripen unevenly, 

 and makes the stand thinner than it would otherwise be. 



Thickness of sowing small-grains. When planted at the 

 usual distance, a wheat or an oat plant generally ripens from 

 two to six heads on an equal number of stems or branches. 

 But a plant well fertilized, planted early, and given abun- 

 dant space, may form more than a score of stems and heads. 



This habit of branching from buds at the crown permits 

 the plants of these crops to occupy as much or more than 

 the usual space. It explains why sometimes just as large 

 a crop comes from sowing two bushels of oats as from sow- 

 ing three bushels per acre. About five pecks of wheat 

 or rye per acre are generally sown. 



Varieties. Among the standard varieties of wheat for 

 the Southern states are Blue Stem and Fultz, which are 

 beardless or smooth, and Fuicaster, which has beards. 

 Red oats is the standard Southern kind. It is called rust- 

 proof because it is less injured by rust than most other 



