PLANTING OR SOWING WHEAT. 27 



deeper planting than heavier, clayey lands ; but the light, 

 friable soils of the Western prairies probably require tho 

 deepest covering of any in which wheat is grown, as that 

 soil is more liable to be blown about by the winds, and 

 there is generally less snow in winter to protect the crops 

 from extremes. Then, in autumn, when the soil for 

 some inches below the surface is warmer than in the 

 spring, it will do to plant deeper than in the latter season. 

 A writer in the "New England Farmer" recommends 

 a depth of not less than half an inch nor more than one 

 inch. The "Michigan Farmer" favors a quarter to half 

 an inch as giving the best results in most cases. 



GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



Air, moisture, and warmth are all necessary to cause 

 seeds to germinate and send up plants ; they will 

 "come up" sooner in warm than in cold soils ; in those 

 that are moist than in very dry ; in loose, porous, than 

 in stiff, hard soils. Experiments have shown that wheat 

 planted at different depths came up as follows : At half 

 an inch, in ten days ; one inch, in twelve days ; at two 

 inches, in eighteen days ; but in some cases of favorable 

 warm conditions, wheat at those depths has been known 

 to come up in six to four days, not usually, however, so 

 soon. A temperature of soil and air from fifty to sixty 

 degrees is favorable for wheat, though it will sprout and 

 grow at several degrees both below and above that. 



The "American Cultivator " gives the following useful 

 tables : 



"Frequent complaints are made that seeds do not ger- 

 minate, and dealers in them are found fault with when, 

 very generally, the fault lies in the improper manner in 

 which people plant them. Many take no heed of the 

 condition of the soil or of the depth at which the seed 

 should be planted. The temperature and moisture also 



