WHEAT. 



ways so in ligliter. A heavy rollinjr 

 in sprinjr after a liglit harrowing is 

 very uisclul at a time wlu'ii the sur- 

 face is moist. It clo.ses the pores 

 and eheolts the evaporation ; and the 

 tighter tiie surface can be made, the 

 better chance there is of a fair crop. 

 Tlie Norfoli< rotation, as it is gener- 

 ally called, in which wheat is sown 

 after clover, is tlie only one well 

 adapted for wheat on light soils. 

 The manure having been put abun- 

 dantly for the turnips or roots, and 

 the land being freed from weeds, the 

 barley which follows is generally a 

 good crop ; and the clover, which is 

 sown in this, is trodden in the reap- 

 ing and carrying of the barley ; and 

 there is only one ploughing from the 

 time the barley is sown to the sow- 

 ing of the wheat. If this be dibbled 

 on the turned sward of the clover, 

 the land will receive another tread- 

 ing by the dibblers, the seed will be 

 regularly deposited at a proper depth, 

 and no preparation of light land can 

 be more likely to produce good wheat. 

 On heavy soils the process must be 

 varied ; the surface, instead of being 

 rendered more compact, will often 

 be so bound as to require to be stir- 

 red by harrowing or hoeing before 

 the wheat plant can properly tiller. 

 If a farmer is anxious to have good 

 crops of wheat, he must not rest sat- 

 isfied afler he has ploughed, manured, 

 and sown ; he must watch the growth 

 of this important crop daily, and use 

 the means which experience and ob- 

 servation have suggested to assist 

 the growth and to remove the caus- 

 es of failure. 



"In heavy soils nothing is more 

 detrimental than excess of moisture. 

 Even in well-drained fields the water 

 will stand loo long in the furrows if ' 

 tliere is not a proper outlet for it. I 

 The furrows should be well cleared 

 out with the spade as soon as the | 

 seed is sown, drilled, or dibbled, the ' 

 earth being thrown evenly over the \ 

 surface of the stitches, and not left 

 in an unsightly ridge, which crumbles 

 down with tlie furrow at the first 

 frost. In proper places and at regu- ' 

 lar distances, deeper water-furrows : 

 856 



should be dug out afler the plough 

 lias ploughed a deep furrow in the 

 intended line ; and this should then be 

 finished as is said above ; so that if 

 a heavy lall of rain should come sud- 

 denly, the water will have a regular 

 course and outlet into the ditches 

 which lie in the lowest [lart of the 

 land, without soaking into the soil, 

 whii;h is already too retentive of 

 moisture. It is chiefly in spring and 

 when snow melts that there should 

 be a daily inspection of the wheat- 

 fields. An experienced eye, going 

 along the bottom of the ridges of a 

 large field, will discover at once 

 whether there is any stoppage of the 

 water ; and by means of a spade or 

 shovel it will be remedied with little 

 trouble. When the surface binds, 

 as it does in some soils, and pre- 

 vents the access of air to the roots, 

 the land is harrowed, and in a few 

 days the effect will be apparent. 



" Soils which lie on a very porous 

 subsoil, or which, by artificial drain- 

 ing, have been so dried and mellow- 

 ed that horses can go over the land 

 at all times without making such an 

 impression as will retain water if it 

 rains, may be laid flat, without more 

 open furrows than are necessary for 

 the convenience of ploughing with a 

 fixed turn-furrow ; and thus a con 

 siderable portion is made productive 

 which would be taken up by furrows, 

 and, perhaps, produce weeds. But 

 if the soil is of a tenacious quality, 

 easily compressed when moist, and 

 horses cannot safely be allowed to 

 pass over it when wet, it is absolute- 

 ly necessary to divide the land into 

 stitches, or beds with furrows be- 

 tween them, in which the horses can 

 walk while they draw harrows or 

 any other implement over the land. 

 All the implements should be so con- 

 structed that, if they have wheels, 

 these may run in the furrows, so 

 that nothing will disturb the even- 

 ness of the stitches, which should 

 have a gentle slope from the centre to- 

 wards the two furrows which bound 

 it. For spring crops this is not so 

 essential, although it is advisable not 

 to deviate from the usual form, even 



