WHEAT 253 



WHEAT.— This crop ranks third in the United 

 States. It grows in cool, temperate and warm 

 climates and in many kinds of soil. It does best 

 in clay loam and poorest in sandy soil. The hard 

 water-soaked lands will not grow wheat with profit 

 to the farmer. For this reason, where good wheat 

 production is desired, the soil must be well drained 

 and in good physical condition — that is the soil 

 must be open, crumbly and mellow. 



Clay soils that are hard and lifeless can be made 

 valuable for wheat production by covering the sur- 

 face with manure, by good tilling and by a thorough 

 system of crop rotation. Cowpeas make a most 

 valuable crop to precede wheat, for in growing the 

 atmospheric nitrogen is added to the soil, their 

 roots loosen the root bed, thereby admitting a free 

 circulation of air and add humus to the soil. More- 

 over, the cowpea leaves the soil in a compact con- 

 dition so much desired in wheat production. One 

 may secure a good seed bed after cotton, potatoes 

 and corn as well as after peas. These are summer 

 cultivated crops and the clean culture that has 

 been given renders the top soil mellow and the 

 under soil firm and compact. They are not so 

 good, however, as cowpeas, since they add no at- 

 mospheric nitrogen to the soil, as all the legumes do. 



How Deep to Sow. — Several things enter into 

 the depth of sowing. The soil has something to 

 do with it as well as the moisture; and then the 

 levelness and the firmness of the seed bed must be 

 considered also. A sandy soil will give better re- 

 sults from deep seeding than a clay soil. Then, 

 too, the dry soil will stand deeper sowing than the 

 wet soil. If the season is dry, a greater depth 

 should be given the seed than if it is a season of 



