THE WHEAT CULTUEIST. 



157 



the soil — whether light or heavy — water should never be 

 allowed to stand, from day to day, on any portion, as 

 standing water drowns the soil, and impairs its produc- 

 tiveness far more than most people are accustomed to 

 suppose. 



Deep Ploughing foe Wheat. 



In a late number of the American Farmer, Kochester, 

 Y., the editor penned the following excellent sugges- 

 tions in regard to deep ploughing for wheat, which coin- 

 cide with my own views very well, except that the 

 point with reference to keeping the best soil on the sur- 

 face, is not made as clear as it should have been. Let 

 the soil be pulverized as deep as practicable ; but let the 

 mould — the best soil — be retained at the surface. The 

 writer says : " The imjDortance to the farmer of under- 

 standing the habits and peculiar characteristics of the 

 plants he cultivates, as well as the nature and quality of 

 his soil, is frequently illustrated. Let us take the wheat 

 plant for instance, and we find, by almost common con- 

 sent, it is best provided for in a shallow seed-bed. 

 Yery deep ploughing is thought to be not only unneces- 

 sary, but absolutely injurious. The young plant seems 

 to need a firm under-stratum not far from the surface to 

 imbed its roots in, and with this advantage they withstand 

 the ' throwing out ' produced by alternate thawings and 

 freezings, better than when the soil has been recently 

 stirred to a very considerable depth. 



" 'No one at this time of day can overlook, or be ignor- 

 ant of the great advantages to the soil generally, of deep 

 ploughing. 1st. It opens a much larger amount of soil 

 to the range of roots, giving much more liberal pastur- 

 age than they could otlierwise get. 



