AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
308 
Oxen Profitable Teams. 
Late in the autumn of 1864, a good farmer of 
our acquaintance, purchased a yoke of ordi¬ 
nary cattle for two hundi’ed dollars, and used 
them for hauling wood, rails, and any thing else, 
and for doing most of the plowing for spring 
crops on a farm of seventy acres. In June, he 
sold them for beef for two hundred and sixty 
dollars. He thinks their labor paid well for the 
meal they consumed. On the same day that he 
drove these oxen to market, he purchased anoth¬ 
er yoke for one hundred and ninety dollars. 
After a few months he sold these for beef at 
an advance, which also paid well for the meal 
fed to them, and purchased another yoke at 
once, and commenced feeding them with meal, 
working them occasionally. By Ahis system of 
trafficking, he made three hundred dollars in 
about one year, and had a good ox team con¬ 
stantly, receiving a good price for all grain 
fed them, besides making a large quantity of ex¬ 
cellent manure. He is a good manager, always 
feeds his teams well, treats them kindly, and 
never allows them to be over-worked, or wor¬ 
ried by disagreeable drivers, who use up more 
of the energies of a team by bawling at, and 
whipping them, than by the labor got out of 
them. He never purchases poor oxen, even at 
a cheap rate, as it requires many dollars worth 
of meal to get them into a fattening condition. 
- -v-t - i m - 
The Habit of the Wheat Plant. 
When a kernel of wheat germinates, it re¬ 
mains where it is deposited in the soil, sending 
out a system of primary roots, fig. 1, and pro¬ 
ducing a stem. If the kernel is buried 5 or 
6 inches deep, the stem and leaves will be quite 
slender, and the leaves will not attain that rank 
and luxuriant growth that is seen when the 
seed is planted from one to two inches beneath 
the surface. The substance which composes 
the kernel is transformed into the primary roots 
and stem. If the kernel is small, and is buried 
deeply, there is sometimes not enough nourish¬ 
ment in it to form a stem to reach the surface 
of the ground. When this is the case, both 
roots and stem cease to grow and die before 
“ coming up.” It began to live; but, before the 
leaves (its lungs) were produced, it died. Some¬ 
times there is substance enough to form the 
stem and a set of large leaves, before the roots 
begin to draw nourishment from the soil; and 
there are instances, in which the plant grows 
but little, for a long time after it has come up. 
This shows that it was buried too deeply. 
When wheat is covered half an inch or more 
deep, there will be a joint of the stem just be¬ 
low the surface of the ground, fig. 1, a, at which 
point secondary roots start out on every side. 
But these do not make much growth the first 
season, unless the grain is put in early in autumn. 
When the seed is sowed late, there will be but 
few plants having more than the primary roots, 
as shown in fig. 1. The next season, however, 
all those plants, the primary roots of which are 
an inch or more below the surface of the ground, 
send out a nerv system of secondary roots at 
the joint, a, fig. 1. These all spread out hori¬ 
zontally, while the primary roots strike down¬ 
ward as far as the soil has been pulverized; 
and where the subsoil is not compact, the roots 
frequently grow from one to four feet below the 
stratum of soil moved bytlie plow. We have 
in mind instances where the primary roots liave 
been traced six feet below the surface of the soil. 
Figure 2, is an exact representation, as to size 
of stem (bent to save room), roots and leaves, of 
a wheat plant produced in our office from a 
kernel planted just 6 inches deep. In five days 
the first leaf appeared. In two days more, the 
leaves were developed as here represented. The 
joint at «, fig. 1, insures the formation of a sys¬ 
tem of secondary roots, the office of which is to 
take up nourishment for the growth and fruc¬ 
tification of the plant. At this point also the 
tillering of the plant takes place, and not where 
the primary roots unite with the stem at the base. 
This subject has a direct relation to deep and 
shallow seeding. The plant here illustrated is 
the only one among eight good kernels sowed 
[OCTOBEK, 
six inches deep, that reached the surface, and 
developed leaves. Most of the other kernels 
germinated, and sent a stem almost to the sur¬ 
face, but there stopped growing, and at length 
decayed. There was evidently not enough nu¬ 
triment in the kernels to form stems to reach 
to the surface. We lately planted 40 kernels of 
good wheat, in a very favorable place in the 
garden, from six to seven inches deep, and only 
one spear appeared above ground, and that 
merely developed its leaves like those of fig. 3, 
growing little or none for more than two weeks. 
A few other stems discontinued to grow before 
they reached the surface, while many others 
on examining the soil, could not be found at all. 
Figure 1, represents another wheat plant 
from the seed buried one inch deep, which is 
much better than a depth of six inches, for rea¬ 
sons already given, as well as for the one fol¬ 
lowing : When the grain is deposited from one 
to two inches deep, the primary roots, and 
the secondary roots springing from the joint 
a, fig. 1, are so near each other, that freezing 
and thawing of the soil is not so liable to injure 
the plants during a mild winter or late spring. 
Our aim is, to show by the habit of the plant, 
Jiow and why there is an advantage in put¬ 
ting in winter grain with a good drill, over¬ 
sowing broadcast and harrowing the grain in. 
This subject is not only interesting, but is of 
great practieal importance to cultivators, and 
should be carefully studied and thoroughly un¬ 
derstood. See an article on the advantages of 
“ Drilling in Wheat,” p. 378, Sept. Agriculturist. 
------ 
Making- Drains -with Plank. 
Stones suitable for forming a channel for the 
water in the bottom of a ditch, are often scarce, 
or wanting entirely, and tiles cannot be always 
obtained vuthin convenient distance, but planks 
are comparatively cheap and easily got almost 
everywhere. Where the subsoil is compact, 
planks may be used with the assurance that they 
will last in the drain for 30 or 40 years, and 
as long as they last, they will be fully equal to 
tile or stone. The writer has lifted plank drains 
on his own farm, the wood of which had not 
been prepared in any way, yet, after having 
lain 30 years, they were in effective condition. 
The best way to use planks is, to saw them all 
of a certain length, and lay them crossAvise 
of the ditch. 
When they are 
thus laid,planks 
of all Avidths 
may be used up 
very economi¬ 
cally, and make 
a much strong¬ 
er drain, than 
Avhen they are 
placed length¬ 
wise. TAVomen 
with a horse- 
saAv Avill easily 
cut up a thou¬ 
sand feet of 
plank inlO-inch 
pieces in less 
than two hours. 
Planks should 
alAvays be well seasoned before they are put 
under ground, as they will last much longer 
than if green, and if every piece were dipped in 
coal tar a fcAV Aveeks jArevious to being laid in 
the ditch, they Avould, no doubt, hast one hundred 
years, We knoAV of some Avhite-wood gas-pipst 
Fig'. 1.— PLANK DKAIN. 
