The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-09-17
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WHEAT GROWING.
The Preparation of the Seed Bed and
Prnuisiox r. cs.4.1,Ia Plant Food.


The Preparation of the Seed Bed and
Provision of Suitable Plant Food.
The preparation of the seed bed and
the feed are the two chief points to be
considered in wheat growing, concern
ing which The Rural New Yorker makes
the following recommendations:
"The upper two inches of the soil are
about all the wheat plant has any use
for, but this part cannot be too carefully
or finely worked. To plow and stir the
soil as deeply for wheat as we do for po-
tatoes would injure rather than help the
crop, because the seed would be placed
too deep in soil that would surely run
together, puddle and heave as water
heat or frost came in excess. The
ideal seed bed would be two inches OF
soil as fine and open as bed of ashes on
top Of a firm, solid foundation. We see
from this why the roller is SO popular
with those who plow their wheat ground
deeply. The heavy roller firms and COM
pacts the soil, crushing and powdering
the Jumps and pushing the seed bed
into solid and compact form. With
out the roller such deeply plowed soil
would be too open, and the seed would
not only be delayed in starting up, but
would be injured by the heaving and
settling of the ground. This also ex-
plains why potato ground that is to go
into wheat is seldom or never plowed by
the best growers. The work of the po-
tato digger and cultivator, or one of the
new diggers, like the Cutaway harrow,
is sufficient to stir up the ground to the
necessary depth, and if thoroughly fined
with harrow such ground will usually
do better than when plowed deeply. In
fact, the best place for wheat in rota-
ton is after some crop like potatoes,
that had so much working during the
growing season that light narrowing
or cultivating will properly fit the land
for wheat. The use of the roller is be-
coming more general, particularly on
farms where wheat is sowed on newly
plowed grounds or on summer fall
low" -..
The following reasons for using the
roller are given by the Wisconsin ex-
pertinent station:
First-Rolling makes the temperature
at ~ inches below the surface from 1
deg. to dogs. Fahrenheit warmer than
similar unrolled ground in the same To-
cality, and at three inches deg. to G
dogs. warmer.
Second-Rolling land by frming the
soil increases it's power of drawing
water to the surface from below, and
this influence has been observed to ex-
tend to depth of three feet.
Third-The evaporation of moisture is
more rapid from unrolled ground, unless
the surface soil is very wet, and then
the reverse is true, and the drying.
Fourth-In cases of broadcast seeding,
termination is more rapid and complete
on rolled than on unrolled. 1t was So
per cent. greater on rolled, greatest in
dry and least in wet weather, and
weighed about two pounds per bushel
the most. Rolled oats. yielded trifie
over two bushels more per acre.
In this thin, mellow seed bed suitable
plant food must be placed evenly and in
a fine condition. Big, thick Jumps of
stable manure are out of place in
wheat seeding. The great work of pre-
pairing the seed bed has been to crush up
all clods and Jumps. The young wheat
plant is tender. It will have a hard tria-
during the winter and must make
good growth and push its roots in firmly
before it can hope to live. Its food
must be within reach and so soluble
that the plants can readily use it. With
the usual fitting that wheat ground re-
ceives stable manure is not a good dress
ing for wheat seeding. We should pre-
fer to use all the stable manure on the
corn, thus condensing the farms fer
tility and manuring the corn directly
and the wheat Indirectly. If used on
wheat at all, we should prefer to apply it
in winter as mulch for the young crop.