THE WHEAT CULTTJEIST. 



69 



and the tender blades are met by opposing forces. If 

 the intelligent hnsbandman will break up the hard soil, 

 and reduce it to a fine and mellow tilth, a large share of 

 the vital force of the plant that is used up in pushing 

 the roots and stems through the soil, will be employed 

 in developing the stem, leaves, and fruit. 



The source of the force of the growing wheat plant, 

 for example, is the substance in the kernel. If the 

 kernel be small, of course the vital force must be very 

 limited. For this reason, tender plants cannot flourish 

 luxuriantly, when they first begin to live, if there be 

 numerous lumps in the soil. Roots of tender plants, 

 like wheat, seldom have sufiicient force to enter hard 

 lumps of earth. The roots will pass around and 

 between them. But, as hard lumps furnish very little 

 plant food until they are pulverized, wheat plants ex- 

 pend so large a proportion of the vital force in perform- 

 ing what implements of husbandry should do, that but 

 little force is left to develop and mature the grain. 



Stevens, in the Book of the Farm, states that the force 

 of the vegetation of a single seed is so great as to be 

 able to raise two hundred pounds, as has been proven by 

 the process being made to split hollow balls of iron. 



Peolieicact of Wheat. 



The prolificacy of our cereals, and of wheat in par- 

 ticular, is a subject that has been seriously neglected for 

 many years past, even by those who have a reputation 

 for being excellent farmers. Seed wheat should be 

 selected e\^ery successive season, with a direct reference 

 to the prolificacy of the variety. In many iustances, 

 thirty bushels of grain might just as well be gro^vn on 



