THE WHEAT CULTUEIST. 



123 



valuable a matrix for the roots of tlie wheat plant, and 

 enables them to resist the loosening effects of alternate 

 frosts and thaws during winter. This important distinc- 

 tion, it will be observed, allows nothing to be detracted 

 from the argument in favor of deep ploughing. It is 

 only when the previous working has been indeed most 

 thorough, that the wheat reaps a due advantage from 

 this shallow ploughing. The under-stratum, though 

 somewhat compacted in comparison with the loose sur- 

 face soil, is so enlivened by the former breaking up, that 

 the tender rootlets take firm hold and keep their place. 



" The advantage of this comparative firmness of the 

 substratum is apparent in the practice, now so common, 

 of seeding corn land to wheat, without any ploughing 

 beyond what has been given to the corn. The action 

 of the tines of the wheat-drill, or any such scratching 

 of the surface, as will give the seed a light covering, is 

 found to answer all necessary purposes even on tolerably 

 tenacious clays. It is insisted, indeed, after much ex- 

 perience, that this is the most successful practice for 

 corn-land seeding." 



Let this be the keynote then, to successful wheat cul- 

 ture : to keep the best soil, or a thin, mellow stratum 

 of rich soil, at the surface. Then make the subsoil as 

 deep and porous by pulverization as practicable, by the 

 use of the subsoil plough. 



How Fkeezing- akd Thawing op the Soil affects 

 Guowma Wheat. 



Practical farmers understand very well, how freezing 

 and thawing of the surface of the soil affects the wheat 

 plant. Doubtless every observing farmer who reads 



