The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-10-22
Some Experiments with Wheat.

In the fall of 1878 | put in two acres OF
wheat and sowcd one bushel of seed on one
acre and onehGlf bushel on the other. TWAS
sown September g. and when it first came up
there was a marked difference between the two
strips But the fail was favorable for growth,
and before winter 1t was difficult to tell which
was the thin seeded part. A nelghbor cut 1t
for me. and | told HIM that one side was seed
ed with halt a bushel and the other with a
bushel, and asked him to pay particular atten
ton and see If he could tell which was the
heaviest, but he could detect no difference
We had 1913 Shocks tifty-One on oae acre and
tifty.two on the other and the yield was thirty
five bushels per acre. The next year added
four acres TO the piece and seeded 1t with three
pecks of seed to the acre. The yield was $50
bushels, or thirty bushels per acre. | have
grown on picked acres over forty bushels OF
wheat from three pecks of seed,
In the tall of 1878 | MANFRED q strip of thin
land with bone meal at the rate OF about 300
pounds per acre, and left space one rod wide
through the center TO test the difference. AS
soon as the wheat started to grow in the spring
that on which the bone was used outgrcw the
other, so that it could be seen from distance
in passing the field, and at harvest the ANNA
nured strip was not worth cutting while the
part "boned" made fifteen bushels OF excellent
wheat to the acre.
wheat on corn land 1t was a cold clay, and
had rarely grown paying crop on 1t, the corn
that year did not make twenty bushels to the
acre. divided it into tour equal strips and
manured the first with one barrel of sitted hen
manure; the second with twelve loads of stable
manure; the third with 200 pounds OF ground
bone and the fourth with POO pounds of super
phosphate. left strips ten feet wide without
any manure between the different plots. From
q comparison of the unmanured strips | esti-
mate that doubled the crop by the fertilizers
The four acres yielded 100 bushels, and al
though did not thrash the strips separately,
found that the barrel of hen manure made
as heavy crop as the twelve loads OF stable
manure. Possibly 1t supplied just what was
needed IN the soil or gave the wheat Just the
quick start needed to enable 1t to find material
already there. If barrel of hen manure, as
the experiment indicates, will add ten or fifteen
bushels of wheat to the acre, II Is time farmers
were finding ii out.
am much in favor of top-dressing wheat
land, and from experiments extending over
several wears find one load of manure made
fine and spread on the surface Is worth to the
wheat crop two plowed under. If used in this
way every half cord of manure Will make an
extra bushel of wheat-and under favorable
circumstance. 1t will often double this. | be
lleve that manure from a shed where it has
been allowed to accumulate and retain all the
LIQUID. is worth two or three times as much
for wheat as that from the barn-yard, and | am
so situated this year that can test the matter,
as have several loads of manure in a stable
where have kept a mare and colt all sum-
mer-Wdldo +, BroIrn, IN Rural Nel1 Yorker