124 



THE WHEAT CULTUEIST. 



these pages, will recollect of having seen the surface of 

 very wet and light ground lifted, so that the ice and 

 a Httle earth would resemble a honeycomb. Every 

 wheat-grower should have a correct understanding of 

 the effect of freezing and thawing of the soil on the 

 wheat plants, as the injury to the wheat plant arising 

 from the freezing and thawing of the soil, is usually the 

 most serious obstacle that farmers meet with in our 

 wheat-growing regions. By the alternate freezing and 

 thawing of the surface of the soil, the stools of wheat 

 are lifted and separated from their hold upon the soil. 

 The deep roots which penetrate below the reach of shal- 

 low frosts are broken off, and the earth is more or less 

 loosened from the others. Here we perceive the dis- 

 advantage of depositing the seed too deep. The roots 

 originating fronl the seed, being far below the surface 

 of the ground, when the plant is lifted by the expansion 

 of the soil, the stem will be likely to be separated some- 

 where between the surface of the ground and the roots. 

 The plants then soon die. When the roots strike down- 

 ward, their hold in the soil is loosened, when the frost 

 lifts the soil ; and as the wheat plants do not settle back 

 to their original position when the ground thaws, the 

 roots are soon worked upward, until they are raised 

 almost clear of the soil, as if they had been pulled up 

 by hand. Every practical w^heat-grower is familiar 

 with all these disadvantages in raising winter wheat. 

 "With spring grain, none of these things occur. 



When the soil freezes, it is greatly expanded ; and the 

 expansion is all upward, because the unfrozen earth 

 below, will not yield to the frozen stratum ; and there is 

 no vacant space to be filled by the lateral enlargement. 

 For this reason, the surface of the soil is often elevated 



