Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-07-04
REPRODUC|NGWHEAT
One Grain Is Made to Bear Thirty
thousand In Year.
II 10 an Old Chinese Method-pl,,
Has Been Adopted In France and
Has Tripled the Yield In
Some Sections. WA

Great interest Is taken in Franz.
just now In a new method by wh,ch
the yield Of crops per acre is enorm.
ously increased. In one test case tho
yield of wheat has been three time.
above that grown in similar sol, In
the same neighborhood.
The remarkable value of the method
is indicated by the statement that T.
has made twenty grains of wheat pro.
duce 100000 in one year.
The method consists in preparinv
seed beds in widely spaced lines IN
very mellow land. then at the end q,
two months dividing the tufts spring.
ing from each grain, replanting each
OF these rooted shoots thus detached
and finally in hoeing and earthing IN
these new plants many times in such
manner as to provoke at all the points
brought into intimate contact with the
earth the growth Of numerous ADVENT.
tious shoots, each Of which bears A,
ear.
The system is not really new, but .
very ancient one. used immemoriallv
ny the Chinese. and to 1t is due the
enormous yield Of their fields, which
have been treated like gardens.
While our farmers throw broadcast
handfuls OF grain on the narrowed
earth, Offering rich pasturage to pillag.
ing birds and rodents, the Chinaman,
after furrowing the cart with his wood.
en- plowshare without turning it, crum.
bles each lump in his hands till It Is
like the powder. This done, at plant.
ing time he walks slowly down each
furrow, carrying grain drill, which
is marvel of ingenious simplicity
Picture to yourself two pointed
plowshares about 20 inches apart and
connected by a transverse bar SUP.
porting hopper filled with grain,
from which issue two slender bamboo
tubes designed to conduct the grain 50
that each will drop in the wake of one
Of the shares. The diameter OF each
tube is Just great enough to allow the
passage of one grain at time with.
out letting 1t drop until it receives the
impulse OF a slight shock given by
means of the handles which complete
the apparatus.
The sower pushes the drill in front
Of him, inclining it now to the right
and now to the left in such way that
each inclination causes the issue Of
single seed, which is instantly pressed
under by the track of one foot or the
other. Each grain is thus planted at a
distance of 16 to 20 inches from It's
neighbors In every direction.
At the end Of few weeks germina,
ton begins. When the young plant
is ten or twelve inches in height there
are score of stalks about its STEM
each provided with a fringe of root
let's. The farmer covers each with
loose earth by means Of careful hoe
ing. thus raising the level of the fur
row. All are the indirect issue Of
single grain, which proves, therefore
to have been the parent of 300 to 40 /
stalks, each bearing an ear.
Transferring this method to expert
mental fields and perfecting it, 1t has
been found possible to separate from
the stem each of the primitive stalk.
lets with it's own roots, transplant It,
and then treat in the same way each
of the new plants thus formed.
An Algerian French farmer, Mr.
Bourdiol-Humbert, has been planting
wheat and oats in the same fields for
Ave years without the application OF
manure He makes his burrows 80
inches apart and plants the seeds
therein at a distance of 20 inches from
each other. Then he harrows the
earth constantly, stirring the SOIL de :.
stroying its parasites and keeping II
pulverized. For five years, without
fertilizing, without distribution Of
crops and without rotation, he mas
harvested an average yield OF l'Sov
pounds Of oats per acre and l,6oV o.
wheat, while his neighbor's yield Wasa
a scant $50 pounds Of oats and sou o.
wheat ...-;-sf .as%a
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