BROADCAST SOWING VS. DRILLING 



127 



slow growth while the weather is cool gives a better root develop- 

 ment, while if planted later it will shoot up quickly when warm 

 weather comes. (2) Early sowing results in earlier ripening, which 

 favors the avoidance of summer rust, and hot, dry summer weather. 

 Rate of Sowing Wheat. At the Ohio Experiment Station 

 wheat has been sown at rates varying from three to ten pecks per 

 acre. In all, eight varieties have been grown. Following is a sum- 

 mary of several years' test with all varieties (Ohio Bui. 231) : 



Effect of Rate of Seeding 



These data show only a small increase in yield due to heavy seed- 

 ing. When wheat tillers well and .no severe loss from winter-killing 

 occurs, 4 pecks will give a full stand, but long experience has shown 

 that it is safer under average conditions to sow rather thickly. On 

 heavy clay soils where wheat does not tiller freely, more seed is re- 

 quired than on warmer or lighter soils. Eight pecks is recommended 

 for Ohio while farther west, along the Missouri valley, five to six 

 pecks are usually sown. Farther west in the dry farming section 

 (western Nebraska) three to four pecks is the usual recommenda- 

 tion. Here wheat not only tillers freely, due to the warm loose soil, 

 but with the low rainfall, thin sowing with larger plants will endure 

 drought better. 



Broadcast Sowing vs. Drilling. Three reasons are usually ad- 

 vanced in favor of drilling (Fig. 50) : (1) Better germination. When 

 grain is sown broadcast only a part is covered at the proper depth to 

 come up at once. This results in uneven growth and some plants are 

 too late to make their best yield. (2) Withstands winter-killing 

 better. The crowns are better protected, and when the ground 

 heaves through freezing, the mass of plants in a drill-row are not so 

 easily thrown out of the soil. (3) When grass or clover is sown 

 with the wheat it will do better, as it can grow between the drill-rows 

 and gets more light. 



