Yol. XLVI. No. 193C 
NEW YORK, MARCH 5, 1887 
PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1887, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, 
wheat plant is to spread 'its 'roots just below 
the surface of the soil. This tendency is well 
shown iu the second aud succeeding plants, in 
which the ‘“coronal" or accessory roots have 
already formed, to replace in a short time the 
“seminal" or seed roots, which are so deep 
that the plant cannot make use of them. In 
the third and fourth plants the stalk between 
the coronal and semtual roots is almost too 
thin to give due support to the plant, aud it 
can easily lie imagined how variations iu the 
soil caused by frost, etc., could break the 
contact between the two series of roots, aud 
if perchance the coronal roots were not far 
enough developed, would be certain death to 
the plant. What a chauge there would be in 
the plant if we could take out the stalk and 
bring the prolific seminal roots in direct con¬ 
tact with the stem of the plant! As it is, the 
plant must lose the vigorous roots formed by 
the germ and delay its growth to form a new 
set of roots upon which the plant can depend. 
Therefore, we should expect a plant like num¬ 
ber oue, which had but one set of roots to form, 
aud steadily increase them, to be more vig¬ 
orous thun a plant like number four, which 
has the double duty of root formation to per¬ 
form. 
For the seventh and eighth plants the seeds 
were planted so deep that, the stem had bundled 
itself up as though it were weary of trying to 
find its way out of imprisonment and now 
was coiled up to die—the inevitable fate of 
deep planting! 
The depth at which the seed-wheat is most 
beneficially placed is a question in general not 
carefully euough regarded. If we follow na¬ 
ture here, we fiud her seeds germinating at or 
near the surface, and it has been ascertained 
with some kinds of seeds that, if shaded from 
the direct rays of the sun, they germinate 
better than in au} r other place. Again, in 
Egypt, after the waters of the Nile recede 
from the plains into the river-bed, the seed- 
wheat or barley, etc., is scattered over the 
mud. If, however, this has become too dry, 
the seed is slightly plowed or harrowed in, 
aud no more labor is bestowed upon it until 
harvest arrives. The produce in the Nile re¬ 
gion, too, is proverbial. 
With our field operations, however, it is not 
possible to leave seeds thus exposed to their 
various enemies, and, as it is necessary to 
cover them with the earth, our inquiry is 
what depth from the surface happens to be 
practically best for wheat! The illussrations 
below give a general answer. But there are 
other conditions, such as the kind of soil, the 
degree of temperature and moisture, aud the 
season at which the planting is done. In 
light, porous soils, that are dry and warm, 
more covering will be needed than in heavy, 
moist lauds. Mr. Curtiss, of Washington, 
proves from statistics that “depths of not less 
than three-fourths, nor more than an inch 
and a half are probably the extremes for 
wheat to secure the best results.” 
ALBERT. E. MET GER. 
Cornell University. 
[Mr. Metzger is a student of Cornell Univer¬ 
sity, in the agricultural department, under 
Prof. I. P. Roberts. Our picture on this page, 
drawn from plants carefully mounted by Mr. 
Metzger, shows the wheat plants as grown 
from seeds planted at various depths. This is 
an instance of the way Prof. Roberts teaches 
agriculture to his class, and it is a way that 
will commend itself to our intelligent farm 
readers.— Eds.] 
AT WHAT DEPTH SHALL WE PLANT 
WHEAT? 
Fig. 114 accurately represents the result of 
a class experiment,conducted under the super¬ 
vision of Professor Roberts. 
Shortly after our return to the Uuiversity 
the past fall we laid out a plot of ground on 
our Experiment Farm, aud twice a week 
watched the growth of plants from seeds 
placed at various depths: 
No. 1 Is a plant taken from a row the seeds of which 
were planted at .to Inches. 
No. 2, ** '* “ 1 to lii 
No. 8, “ " 3 to 2M “ 
No. 4, ** “ “ to S “ 
No 5, “ “ “ 8 to 8« “ 
No. 6. " “ “ 8J4 to 4 
No. 7. “ “ “ 8 to litf “ 
Nothing more than the entire rows of wheat 
plants, of which these are specimens, could 
better show the vigor attained from the vari¬ 
ous depths of planted seed. Those seeds 
planted from ‘ 3 - , iueh produced by fur the 
hardiest aud most vigorous plants. Iu fact, 
the plant of that depth shown here might 
have been transplanted into three portions, 
and each would have displayed a vigor equal 
to the original plant. 
It is well known that the tendency of a 
LARUE POTATO CROPS 
C. M. HOVEY. 
I have read with much interest the details 
of potato culture at the Experiment Grounds 
of the Rural, as recorded in the Special Po¬ 
tato Number of a year or more ago, aud I 
promised you some remarks upon the subject. 
But the opportunity did not occur at the mo¬ 
ment, and 1 now improve the time to do so. 
I have already had something to say upon po¬ 
tatoes iu a contemporary journal, and partic¬ 
ularly on the very low average of the crop. I 
was pleased, therefore, to see by the experi¬ 
ments of the Editor that this low average need 
not be, as the statement proved. 
HViV TORVC 
GROWTH OF WHEAT PLANTS. From Nature. Fi 
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