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Vol. LXVII, No. 3058. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 5, 1908 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
CULTIVATING THE SOD TREES WITH A MOWING MACHINE. Fig. 315. 
PREPARATION FOR THE WHEAT CROP. 
Doing a Good Job. 
As a rule I believe wheat ground gets less atten¬ 
tion in proportion to what the seed demands and 
what the crop amply pays for than ground for any ner inoculated this wheat so that to sow from it 
other crop. There may be an excuse at times for meant a good wheat crop in spite of unfavorable 
the poor preparation of 
the soil, for so often at 
this time the ground is so 
dry and hard that proper 
fitting with the tools 
usually employed is well 
nigh impossible. The Cen¬ 
tral West, like the East, 
is paying dearly for her 
folly in robbing the soil. 
Here wheat has lost the 
place it once held in the 
list of farm crops. Thirty 
to 40-bushel yields have 
become less frequent. At 
first this was attributed 
to unfavorable climatic 
conditions. Then came the 
fly. Farmers became dis¬ 
gusted with wheat raising, 
and many quit raising it 
except possibly for their 
own use or for the pur¬ 
pose of seeding the land 
to grass. Those who 
stuck to wheat, in a ma¬ 
jority of cases, gave less 
attention to the fitting of 
the ground and applied 
little or no manure. The 
manure was hauled upon 
the corn ground where 
the farmer felt certain 
that it would bring better 
results. I have little doubt 
that careless methods and 
lack of plant food have 
caused a greater number 
of failures than anything 
else. My belief is based 
upon my own experience 
and observation. Those 
who have not lost faith in 
the wheat crop as a 
money maker, and have 
kept right on fitting their 
ground in good shape, at 
the same time applying 
manure liberally, as a rule, 
have received good returns 
not only in the yield of 
wheat but in other ways 
to which I shall allude 
farther on. A striking 
example of the truthful¬ 
ness of this assertion 
came to my notice a few 
years ago, when a young 
man just beginning to 
farm for himself and who 
had been persuaded to be¬ 
lieve that raising wheat was a losing game, said he 
would not risk much on a wheat crop, that he would 
“put out” just a little and put it out well, and if he 
did not get a crop it would not be his fault. It was 
well put out, the ground well manured and thor¬ 
oughly fitted. The next year most wheat fields made 
a very poor yield, but this man who had wasted his 
time and manure, as so many predicted, harvested 35 
bushels per acre of Poole wheat, a variety much yields of nearly 40 bushels per acre. Raising more 
grown in this section at that time. Farmers who wheat balances up the rotation better than where so 
had grown this same variety for years were ready much corn and other Spring-sown crops are raised, 
to tumble over each other to get seed, imagining, Many farmers at the present time are practically idle 
perhaps, that this man had in some mysterious man- because they hauled their manure last Spring and are 
not intending to sow much wheat. Next Spring they 
will want two or three extra hands to help haul 
manure and to put out a 
big acreage of oats, barley 
and corn. Some of it 
will be done too late, as is 
always the case, and a 
poor crop will be the 
result. Farmers usually 
blame such losses to the 
late or unfavorable Spring, 
and take these losses as a 
matter of course. This 
line of argument has little 
to do with the real ques¬ 
tion of how to grow 
wheat, but I should like 
by some means to convince 
the readers of The R. 
N.-Y. that in a great 
many' cases they might 
handle their farms to 
much better advantage by 
raising more wheat. 
We usually apply from 
five to 10 loads of manure 
per acre, depending upon 
the quality of the manure 
and of the land. We still 
haul upon wagons, un¬ 
loading in piles. I realize 
this is not the best way, 
but we get satisfactory re¬ 
sults, and by using two 
wagons and three men we 
make short work of this 
job while the ground is 
hard and the manure 
light. In this way our 
teams are idle the mini¬ 
mum amount of time, and 
as soon as the manure is 
on the ground, if the 
latter is in condition to 
plow, the spreading and 
plowing can both be go¬ 
ing on at the same time. 
Some advocate top-dress¬ 
ing. Under certain condi¬ 
tions this may pay, but 
with a good subsoil such 
as we have I am satisfied 
top-dressing will not as a 
rule pay us. However, like 
most other farm opera¬ 
tions one cannot to ad¬ 
vantage follow any cast- 
iron rule. I have seen 
men haul their oat crop 
from a field, then plow it 
immediately while the 
ground is so dry it breaks 
up in great chunks. About 
THE CITY MECHANIC ON HIS VACATION. Fig. 316. 
conditions. While wheat generally is considerably 
above the average in yield this year this man’s crop 
is the poorest he ever raised. He accounts for this 
by the fact that in the Spring he hauled his manure 
upon the corn ground and in the Fall, owing to cir¬ 
cumstances over which he had no control, the ground 
was poorly fitted. Quite a number who put a little 
extra care upon their wheat ground last Fall report 
the time the team and man are worn out the field is 
plowed, and we have our usual soaking rains. Then 
while the ground is soft and the manure full of 
water they begin the laborious task of top-dressing. 
As I write this the wheat ground is filled with great 
cracks. We have hauled enough manure upon this 
to give it a liberal coat. We are busy at other work, 
but as soon as it rains we shall start the plow and the 
