Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-04-03
Winter Killing of Wheat.

ff"m the Ne" YORK Tribune.
An inquiring friend asks the de-
gree of cold that will kill Winter
wheat in Michigan, the ground being
"dry and surface exposed" Wheat
is greatly protected by light cover
ing of snow, and if sown broad cast
rarely Winters well where the ground
is exposed to the frost and winds.
Wheat put in with Il drill suffers
much less partly because it is Gov
cred deeper with earth, aud all the
seeds are Mt the proper depth, and
partly because the ridges made by
the drill protect the plants from the
action of the wind. In places much
exposed We have made the drill marks
at right angles with the direction
of the prevailing Winter winds.
Ground frozen becomes dry, and the
wind often lifts the surface PARTICLES
and carries them away. Wheat drill
ed comes up in rows in the bottom
OF the trenches made by the drill,
and each row is between two ridges.
In case of uncovered ground, and
cold and much wind, the tops Of
these ridges will be blown off and
the trenches between will be filed up
with earth, and thus the plant will be
covered deeper and deeper by the
wind, until the ground is levclled.
Wheat that has acquired good
strong root in the Fall, planted in
drill trenches that run at right an
giles with the prevailing winds, on
ground properly drained, will go
through the Winter with very little
loss by reason of the cold. 1t is not
the cold alone that in Winter kills
wheat; the strong winds Of that
season, acting on plants not sufficient
ly covered with earth, "blow the
wheat out Of the ground to use n
common expression. The great
value Of the drill is in the uniform
depth at which it places the seed
none of it too shallow, and none OF
it too dccp-and the raising of ridges
to protect the plants from the Winter
winds.
Drilled wheat sometimes is rolled in
the Fall TO level the surface, that the
harvesting machines may the more
conveniently run over it. IL is bet
ter to defer this rolling until the
ground is settled the next Spring:
but this is n very busy season, and
the period that intcrycncs between
the time the ground is dry enough TO
allow rolling, and the time the wheat
is not too much grown, is short, so
many farmers do the rolling at the
most convenient season, and take the
risk, but this practice Is not often
continued long by the same persons.
In Central New-York snow came i'm
December last, on ground unfrozcn,
and saturated with water; this snow
ia still on the ground in hard drifts,
some of them many feet deep, and
will probably remain, in part, until
thawed by the sun in the month Of
May. These drifts are in the hol-
lows and in the lea OF fences, while
the ridges and many pieces Of level
ground have been made bare OF snow
by the many severe gales that have
characterized the present Winter.
Unless n great thaw comes soon that
will carry of the snow drifts, the
wheat under them will be destroyed
by being smothered. Since the in
PRODUCTION OF the drill deep SHOWS on
unfrozen ground are much more
dreaded by the raisers OF Winter
wheat than is naked and hard frozen
ground. The very best conditions
for Wintering wheat are, first, hard
frozen soil then few inches of
snow all over the surface then a mid
Winter thaw, followed by snow to
again cover the wheat; then IL we
can have Spring that has but few
warm days followed by hard frosts,
we have high expectations Of good
crop. The wheat of this year has al
ready suffered so much injury that
there is no reasonable prospect of
even an average harvest.