WHEAT 



WHEAT 



669 





methods previously mentioned of cleaning and 

 grading the seed, improvement is sure to follow. 

 Shriveled wheat will germinate, but the best results 

 cannot be expected from such seed. In many 

 regions it is absolutely necessary to treat the 

 seed with some chemical to destroy the germs of 

 smut. [See below under 

 Enemies.] 



Seeding. — The time for 

 sowing will depend on the 

 climatic variations and on 

 the dangers of attack 

 from the Hessian fly. 

 With fall wheat, time 

 must be allowed for sufii- 

 cient growth of the young 

 plants to be able to with- 

 stand the rigors of win- 

 ter. Wheat has the abil- 

 ity to germinate and grow 

 at comparatively low tem- 

 peratures, but due care 

 should be exercised not to 

 subject the early growth 

 either to severe frost or 

 to sudden changes of the season. No best time for 

 seeding can be given for any locality. As a rule, 

 the depth of seeding will vary with the porosity of 

 the soil — the lighter the soil the greater the depth. 

 The seed should be planted not less than one nor 

 more than three inches deep, and by the use of such 

 machinery as will place it uniformly and secure 

 perfect covering by the soil. 



Many factors enter into the question of the 

 proper amount of seed to sow per acre. The yield 

 will not depend on the quantity of seed sown, for 

 the differences in varieties are very great ; size of 

 seed, quality, condition of seed-bed and time of 

 seeding, character of the soil and climatic influ- 

 ences all have to be considered. Repeated experi- 

 ments in many states lead to the conclusion that 

 six to eight pecks would be the proper range for 

 quantity. 



As a rule, wheat is not cultivated after being 

 planted. The practice of harrowing, once followed 



on the surface and thereby retain the moisture, as 

 well as give the plants better conditions for growth. 



Harvesting (Pigs. 903, 904). 



The period of growth needed to bring the wheat 

 plant from seeding to maturity varies greatly. With 



ll lllllMiMi. ■ 



Fig. 903. Wheat stacks. Farm of Alex. Speers, on the £agle HiUs 



in England, has never been universally adopted in 

 America. There are some wheat-growing sections 

 where it is an advantage to harrow winter-sown 

 land in the spring in order to break up the crust 



A Pennsylvania wheat-field. 



fall-sown grain there is a long dormant period of 

 almost if not quite half a year when there are few 

 indications of activity or even life. With spring- 

 sown grain where the growth is continuous and 

 unbroken, the period will range from ninety to one 

 hundred and twenty days. In the United States, 

 harvesting begins in Texas as early as May, but 

 may continue as late as September or even October 

 in North Dakota and Washington. In the eastern 

 states grain must be cut as soon as sufficiently ripe, 

 and the entire crop must be put in the shock within 

 a brief period. West of the Rocky mountains, where 

 little or no rain falls during the summer months, 

 harvesting is pursued more deliberately, and as the 

 Club varieties are largely grown in these regions, 

 the flelds are often left standing for weeks or even 

 months after the wheat is fully ripe. 



Harvesting machinery. — The methods employed in 

 harvesting wheat have undergone great changes 

 during the past century. Prom the hand sickle, 

 with which it was possible to reap 

 but a small area each day, to the 

 perfected harvester or the great 

 combined machine, is but a brief 

 step in point of time, but it rep- 

 resents a wonderful advance in 

 human invention and application. 

 At the present time machinery of 

 some kind is universally used in 

 America for harvesting wheat. So 

 perfect is this that the grain is 

 scarcely touched by the human 

 hand during the entire harvesting 

 process. Until within twenty 

 years of the close of the past cen- 

 tury the most perfect machine in 

 use was the self-rake reaper, which mechanically 

 cut and placed the wheat in bundles on the ground 

 ready to be bound in bundles by hand. This machine 

 was replaced by the self-binder, which at first used 



