132 



THE WHEAT CULTUEIST. 



having in it a preponderance of clay. For this reason, 

 our clayey loams are found to be better adapted to 

 winter wheat than any other soil. A strong loam is 

 better for winter wheat than a clay soil, although where 

 clay is so abundant as to give a soil the character of a 

 rich stiff clay, it will produce excellent wheat for a long 

 succession of years. Still, when clay and sand are com- 

 mingled in the right proportion to form a good loam, 

 there is no other kind of soil that is better adapted to 

 the production of winter wheat, that will make the 

 whitest and best fine fiour. A sandy soil is too porous 

 for wheat, especially winter wheat. Spring wheat will 

 succeed much better on sandy soil than winter. Mucky 

 soils are quite ojectionable for winter wlieat, because 

 they are too light. The freezing in Avinter expands them 

 much more than compact loams, or clays, especially 

 when they are not well drained. This great expansion 

 disturbs the roots to sucli an extent that but few plants 

 can survive the great injury from freezing and thawing. 

 Clay gives firmness and solidity to a soil. Sand ren- 

 ders it sufiiciently porous to drain off the superabun- 

 dant moisture, wliich is the means of the great expansion 

 when the soil freezes ; and at the same time it renders 

 the soil sufiiciently porous for the roots to spread readily. 



Another indispensable characteristic of a good soil 

 for wheat is dryness. I^o soil, whatever may be its com- 

 ponent parts, or however fertile it may be, can produce 

 a large yield of winter wheat when there is an excess 

 of water in it. What I wish to be understood by an 

 excess of water is, more than the soil will retain by capil- 

 lary attraction, or absorption. If a good clay soil, too 

 wet for wheat, were rendered dry by under-drains three 

 feet deep and not more than ten to twelve feet apart, 



