1920.] 



Sowing of Wheat. 



505 



It is a heavy yields* of grain of superior quality, yet it is easily 

 handled at harvest time, for its straw is moderate in amount and 

 possesses exceptional standing power. There is probably no 

 variety of wheat in general cultivation so well suited to rich 

 land or so well adapted for yielding a profitable return on 

 fertilisers. 



Method and Rate of Sowing. — Only broadcasting and drilling 

 need he considered. The former economises time and labour at 

 the expense of a slightly greater quantity .of seed : the latter 

 economises seed and generally ensures a more uniform covering, 

 hut increases the cost of labour. The first renders hoeing and 

 weeding of the crop impracticable; the second, particularly when 

 the rows are wide enough apart, facilitates such operations. 



Where there is sufficient tilth, the seed may be broadcasted 

 and ploughed in, or, as in the case of large areas on the Downs, 

 broadcasted by the machine fitted with cultivating attachment. 

 From the standpoint of yield, there seems little doubt that drill- 

 ing is preferable to either of those methods. Where the cart- 

 wheel method is adopted, as in Kent, the broadcast seed is 

 deposited on relatively w 7 ide ruts at a uniform depth and at 

 intervals of 9 inches or so from row to row. In such circum- 

 stances individual plants have more room to develop than when 

 compressed into a narrow seam, as is the case with some of the 

 modern drills. Consequently, the crop stands up better at 

 harvest and. though comparative data are lacking, there is no 

 doubt that exceptionally heavy yields are obtained by the Kent 

 method . 



The question of the best depth of covering is likewise one on 

 which no reliable data are available. A drill has recently 

 appeared the principle of which is to distribute the seed thinly 

 (about 1J bushels per acre) by coulters. 8 inches wide and 

 9 inches apart, which barely enter the ground at all. The Beech 

 is lightly covered with soil by two cultivating attachments fixed 

 behind each coulter, the effect being to leave the surface of the 

 field in slightly raised ridges. The surface tilth required is much 

 finer than that usually considered desirable for a crop which is 

 to stand the winter, but no serious " capping " results, and 

 the little that is found yields readily to a set of light " Parmiter " 

 harrows run over the wheat in spring. Fertilisers are deposited 

 in the row with the seed but do not come into direct contact with 

 it. The result, as seen in a -field near Chelmsford, is a wonder- 

 fully strong, upstanding plant with numerous tillers all the 

 same length and with long, full ears of equal size. The general 



