REQUIREMENTS TO A LARGE YIELD. 21 



out of the milk into the dough state. This course is too 

 little known or observed by the great majority of farmers, 

 and, when better understood, will be more widely adopted. 

 Five very important advantages, besides several lesser ones, 

 are derived from harvesting the wheat crop thus early : 



First It is largely a preventive of injury by rust, as 

 rust ceases to affect the grain as soon as it is cut, while 



Fig. 2. WHEAT IN CLOSE DRILLS, UNCULTIVATED. 



the substance in the straw perfects the grain if cut in 

 the milk state. Second It gives more and heavier grain. 

 Third It gives more and better flour to the bushel, as all 

 the time the grain stands, after the dough state, it makes 

 bran at the expense of starch and flour.- Fourth It 

 causes less waste by shelling and scattering while har- 



Fig. 3. WHEAT WIDE APART AND HOED TILLERED OUT. 



vesting and handling. Fifth The harvesting can be 

 sooner begun and out of the way, for other work, and is 

 more pleasantly done, as the straw is tougher and softer 

 to handle than when perfectly ripe. For flour and milling 

 purposes, wheat cut early is the best, but the small 

 quantity needed for seed should stand until perfectly ripe. 



RUST ITS PREVENTION. 



A writer in the " Tecumseh (Mich.) Herald" com- 

 municates the following on the subject of early harvest of 

 wheat : " Rust in wheat is caused, among other things, 

 by exhaustion in the soil of requisite mineral matters, 



