CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 71 



Q. Do you make any difference in the time of sowing wheat follow- 

 ing potatoes and that following corn ? 



A. After potatoes we get it in about the 10th of September, and 

 we thus get a stronger stand or I would say " braird, " for the pro- 

 tection of the roots in winter. This word "braird" is very significant 

 and useful; it means the young growth of any crop from seed. 



Q. I notice that after sowing the wheat, when you brush harrow 

 in the grass seed, you do not make any mention of using the roller 

 after? 



A. It is not necessary, except occasionally when it is very dry; the 

 rains usually at that season being sufficient to wash down the seed, 

 and compact the soil so as to cause germination. If we have any 

 reason, however, to apprehend a continuation of dry weather, then, as 

 in all other such cases, the roller is applied. 



Q. It is not possible, I presume, for you to get a wheat crop after 

 mangels or turnips without plowing too late ? 



TRAVIS WHEAT CULTIVATOR. 



A. The best wheat crop I ever raised I do not at present exactly 

 remember the number of bushels, but I think it was over fifty per 

 acre was put in between the mangel rows in the autumn before the 

 mangels had been taken off the ground. The wheat was sown and 

 put in with the cultivator about the 20th of September, and the 

 quality of the crop was so good that it was all engaged by a New 

 York seed firm for seed. When the mangels were pulled the tops 

 were left on the wheat. Early in the spring I put on a large iron 

 harrow, harrowed both ways and sowed with lucern, rolled it both 

 ways, so that the land was thoroughly firmed. 



Q. In sowing the wheat between the rows of mangels in the fall, as 

 you state having done, was it possible to get a uniform crop over the 

 surface? I can understand how it might be evenly distributed 

 between the rows, but on the rows directly were there not spaces left? 



A. Yes. I have counted as many as sixty spears from one grain 



