The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1888-09-12
Drilled Wheat.

In a late number Of the North Western
Farmer, Smith Stimnel, of Fargo, gives
the result of his experience in the use of
grain drills for seeding wheat as follows /:
Our experience in the use of drills last
year, fully sustains the views we had
hitherto held in their favor, The diff
ference between our drilled wheat and
that sown broadcast on old ground, was
very marked in favor of the drilled.
We drilled about $50 acres last year, 60
acres OF which was summer fallow. We
seeded about $50 acres of old ground
broadcast, and had in about 100 acres of
new ground. The only portion of our
drilled wheat that we could thresh sep
arate from the broadcast was the 90 acres
of summer fallow and a 40.acre piece
that lay entirely separate from the other.
h yield of the summer fallow was q
little over 40 bushels per acre, that ofthe
40 acre piece over 80 bushels per acre.
The yield of the new ground was good,
but we don'. know how much II made.
The Weld of $50 aares of broadcast on
old ground was light not an average
crop, though most Of it was on parts of
the same pieces of ground and same con-
dition with that on which the experi-
ment IN the Use Of the diill was made,
and the drilling and broadcasting was
done at the same time. In order to test
the drills as fairly us possible, I put the
drill at work on n side of a piece and
the broadcast on the other and let them
work toward each other until the piece
was finished. The yield of u entire
crop of 1000 acres was a little oyer "a
bushels per acre, which we firmly be-
lieve is from 5000 to 1000 bushels o
than we would have received II our en-.
tire crop had been seeded broadcast.
In drilling | use FIVE pecks OF seed per
acre and six pecks per acre broadcast.
narrowed all of our ground ahead of
the drills and seeders, and rolled it all
Immediately after seeding.
In advocating the use of drills last
year, / advised against narrowing after
the drill, but during the seeding season
1 tried the experiment of following the
drills with a light harrow, and i'm sat
fed that it Is a decided advantage.
am aware that there are still strong
p%redjudices against the use of drills in
this valley, but it is no longera question
with us, and We will not seed any ground
broadcast hereafter. But with those
who are content with receiving sixteen,
eighteen, or even twenty bushels per
acre, the broadcast system Is much the
best, but the writer is not satisfied with
such a yield, since the soil is capable of
producing a much larger yield than that.
We are well satisfied thst the increased
yield of u wheat last year, by the rea.
son o. the use of drills, over what it
would have been if our entire crop had
been put in broadcast. was enough to
more than pay for the drill Is twice over.
Besides the saving of seed and the in
creased yield, drilled wheat properly
put in will be comparatively free from
weeds. Wild buckwheat cannot grow
in wheat properly put in with a six-inch
drill. Butseeding broadcast can be done
a little faster with the same mount of
force, possibly, than it can with drills,
but the harvest will not be near as good,
besides, broadcast seeders are better
adopted TO seeding in the mud than
drills are, and it seems there are a good
many farmers in this fertile valley who
still prefer that way Of seeding.