1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEfl. 



263 



There is no doubt that the complaints that 

 have been made in this journal, within a jear 

 or two, o^ the bad eflfects of drilling in wheat, in- 

 stead of sowing broadcast and harrowing, have 

 aris.n from putting in the seed too deep. In or- 

 der to investigate this question further, a series 

 of experiments were commenced the past spring 

 under our direction, by a careful hand, and his 

 report below is fully corroberated by our occa- 

 sional personal examination of the ground. 



The following experiments were made on the 

 depth of planting wheat, the soil a sandy loam, 

 sufficiently moist for free vegetation — the depth 

 being carefully measured, and the soil laid on 

 the seed in aven stratum :— 



Wheat — planted May 21 — 



i inch deep Came up in 5 days. 



1 do do 6 do. 



2 do do 7 do. 



3 do do 8 do. 



4 do do 10 do. 



6 do do IJ do. 



Fve weeks afterwards, there was no perceptible 

 difference in that planted half an inch and an 

 inch deep ; that planted two inches deep was aot 

 quite so good ; and so on decreasing in quality 

 as the depth of planting increased. At six 

 inches depth, there were but very few slender 

 stalks. 



Corn — planted May 21 — 



i inch deep came up in 8 days — 1 inch high in 10 days. 



1 do do 8 do — r H to 2 inches high 

 li do do 9 do -I in 10 days and look- 



2 do do 10 do ( ing much the best. 



3 do do 11 do. 



4 do do 12 do. 



5 do do 13 do. 



6 do do later, day not observed. 



About all the grains grew, although the deeper 

 ones were so much later in reaching the surface. 

 Five weeks afttrward there was no perceptible 

 difference in those ranging from half an inch to 

 two inches id depth, but the others were of fee- 

 bler growth as the depth increased. 



Oats — planted May 22 — 



i inch deep Came up in 5 days. 



1 do do 5 do. 



2 do do 6 do. 



3 do do 9 do. 



5 do f Later, time not ob- 



6 do \ served. 



After five weeks, no difference was observed in 

 half an inch to two inches in depth — quality de- 

 creased as the depth increased afterwards. 



Beans — planted May 21 — 



i inch deep Came up in 9 days. 



J do do 9 do. 



1 do do 10 do. 



IJ do do 11 do. 



2 do do 12 do. 



3 do do day not obs'd. 



4 do do do. 



5 do f Did not grow at 



6 do t all. 



Five weeks after planting, there was no differ- 

 ence in those half, three-fourths, and an inch 

 deep ; at two inches depth they were not quite 

 so vigorous ; but few came up at three inches 



depth, very few at four inches, and none at all at 

 greater depths. 



From all these experiments we may infer, that 

 the best depth for wheat in mellow, moist, mod- 

 erately light soils, is not much over one inch 

 deep ; for corn, one inch or an inch and a half : 

 oats, about the same or a little deeper than 

 wheat, and beans not much over an inch, and 

 never in any case over two inches. 



We may report further in luture on the growth 

 of these plants. 



— In our light prairie soils, when dry, the 

 seed will come up where planted at a great depth 

 but if after planting a heavy rain follows, the 

 seed is lost. On the other hand, if planted 

 when the ground is moist and followed by a long 

 dry spell, much of the shallow planted seed will 

 not come up. Thus, in the ordinary way of 

 planting, we run the risk of too deep or too shal- 

 low planting, either of which is best under cer- 

 tain circumstances, and either fatal under oth- 

 ers, all of which is beyond our control. To avoid 

 all this risk, we have but to plant shatlow as in- 

 dicated in the above tables, and roll the land 

 with a good iron roller. We have always ob- 

 jected to the drill system from the fact that it 

 placed the seed too deep in the ground. Farmer^ 

 and gardeners cannot be too careful as to the 

 depth at which they deposit their seed. In the 

 the case of grass seed, we have no doubt that 

 more than half of it never germinates, from too 

 deep planting. Ed. 



Potato Yeast. — Five large potatoes boile*J 

 and mashed, three pints of boiling water, flou^ 

 enough to make it a little thicker than flap- 

 jacks, and one cup of yeast. This is enough 

 to rise five leves of bread, which may be mix- 

 ed with water, or milk, and will rise enough 

 while your oven is heating. Save out enough 

 of this yeast for your next baking. 



Chicken Pot Pie. — Wash and cut the chick- 

 en into joints; boil them about twenty min- 

 utes; take them up, wash out your kettle, fry 

 two or three slices of fat salt pork, and put in 

 the bottom of the kettle ; then put in the 

 chicken, with about three pints of water, a 

 piece of butter the size ef an egg; sprinkle in 

 a liille pepper, and cover over the top wtth a light 

 crust. It will require one hour to cook. 



— A printer down south offers to sell his whole 

 establishment for a clean shirt and a meal of vict- 

 uals. He has lived on promises till his whis- 

 kers have stopped growing. 



—- 



— Why is a baulky horse like an organ? Be- 

 cause his leading features are his stops. 



