| 
| holes will die. 
688 
never finer; and I feel satisfied that had other 
persons’ seed been drilled in 4 inches deep like 
mine, there would not have been such complaints 
of loss of plant. I, then, could show proof for 
my assertion. In one of the bouts of the drill, in 
consequence of seed enough not being put into 
the machine, for 40 yards no seed had been de- 
posited. On this being discovered, drills were 
made with a hand-hoe, and corn put in. This, 
which was put in about 2 inches deep, came up 
much sooner than the other put in 4 inches deep, 
and looked best till Christmas; but, from the 
frost getting to the roots of it during the severe 
weather we then had, every root went off in the 
spring.” 
The consolidating of porous soils immediately 
after sowing them with wheat is highly advanta- 
geous, both for giving the plantlets a firm root- 
hold and for preventing or diminishing the de- 
vastations of the wire-worm. “On light soils, 
in my opinion,” says Mr. Hillyard, “there is no 
way so good for putting in seed wheat as with 
the presser; and as it is not possible to make 
such soils too solid for wheat, it would be well, 
should the weather be favourable, to roll after 
the seeding, and afterwards drive a flock of 
sheep several times over the land. It has often 
been said that growing wheat is not injured by 
a field of fox-hunters riding over it, and even 
produces more grain in consequence. On light 
soils it does not do the injury that might be ex- 
pected from appearance, but on strong land it 
does great harm, for in all the holes formed by 
the horses’ feet, and particularly if going down 
hill, water will stand, and the plants in these 
But immediately after sowing, 
the trampling of horses doesgood. A late friend 
| of mine in the Blues, who occupied a farm of 
| light soil near Windsor, found it to be a great 
benefit to his wheat crops to have his troop 
walked up and down them, not galloped, imme- 
diately after sowing.” 
The After-Culture of Wheat.—A very thin or 
very sickly crop of autumn-sown or winter- 
‘sown wheat should not be too hastily broken 
up in spring; for after a few days of warm wea- 
ther, it may suddenly revive, and may acquire 
vast increase of strength and fulness from lux- 
uriant tillering; or, if it exhibit breaks and 
patches, it may be facilely and completely mend- 
ed by inter-dibblings of some variety of spring 
wheat which may ripen nearly at the same time 
as the main crop, and may furnish a closely simi- 
lar sample of grain. The after-culture of all 
tolerably healthy crops is directed mainly to the 
| prevention of out-throwing by frost, of devasta- 
| tion by the wire-worm, of impoverishment by 
weeds, and of lodging and running to straw from 
excessive luxuriance; and it requires to be 
much more assiduous after a preparatory crop 
than after a summer fallow, and very much more 
so on any kind of loose or light soil than on a 
firm and cohesive one; and, in all its chief fea- 
tures, it is well described in the following sue- | 
cinct terms by Mr. Roberts :—“ Pressing in the 
spring during dry weather, and before the wheat 
becomes too forward, is generally productive of 
good, though especially required on soils that 
are naturally loose and light in their texture, 
and on those soils which require draining; for 
where water saturates the surface soil, it be- 
comes increased in bulk during winter by its 
conversion into ice in frost, which, of course, 
raises the soil, and when the frost goes away the 
plants are partially thrown out. This is ac- 
counted for thus:—The frost causes the ground 
to swell, and, as it rises, the root of course rises 
with it; when it thaws, the ground shrinks, but 
the root remains in its elevated position, and, by 
the action of alternate frosts and thaws, is at last 
thrown entirely aboveground. This must occur 
to the greatest extent on soils containing super- 
fluous moisture, though it will occur on any soil, 
particularly those of a calcareous nature, when 
frost happens to follow immediately after rain. 
Therefore, when the soil treads loose in the 
spring, it is very important to use the heavy 
roller; or some other means of consolidating the | 
soil. Crosskill’s clod-crusher is highly beneficial 
for this purpose, but can only be used in very 
dry weather. Treading with sheep is also an 
effectual way of fastening the roots. On the 
loose soil of the fens the wheat is trodden by 
gangs of men and women, each treading along 
one drill; by this means the soil is consolidated | 
effectually: it is not an expensive operation, and 
on the loose vegetable soil of the fens is more 
efficacious than rolling. The feeding off wheat 
with sheep in the early part of the spring, when 
likely to run to too much straw, is useful on rich 
soils. If the land be foul when the seed has been 
sown broadcast, it must be cleaned by hand-hoe- 
ing; but, if drilled or dibbled, the horse-hoe © 
may be successfully used. In many places the 
practice is to hoe wheat, whether foul or not. 
As a general rule, hoeing should be begun as 
early in the spring as the weather permits. Har- 
rowing is occasionally found beneficial, particu- 
larly when the ground is crusty and the root lies | 
deep in the ground: it has the effect of loosening 
the surface, and, whether that be done by the 
hoe or harrow, an improvement will be seen in a 
few days by the fresh vigour of the plants. Har- 
rowing light sands and gravelly soils obliquely 
across, or at right angles to the drills, is pecu- 
liarly advantageous, as it destroys the red-weed 
or poppy and other annuals that infest light land. 
For the destruction of the poppy it is recom- 
mended to harrow when the soil is slightly crust-_| 
ed with frost. When, from the extreme luxu- 
riance of the crop in the spring, there appears a 
probability of its being laid, the process of flag- 
ging is resorted to as a preventive. Flagging is 
executed by means of the bagging-hook or scythe, 
separating the flag or blade from the stalk. This 
should be done about May, before the formation 
a 
ee oe 
WHEAT. 
a 
