Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-10
ONE GRAIN OF WHEAT
How Il 10 Made to Produce 10000
Grains in Single Year.


Great interest is taken In France
just now In a new method by which
the yield Of crops per acre is encr-
mousIy increased. In one test case
the yield of wheat has been three
times above that grown in similar
soil in the same neighborhood.
The remarkable value Of the meth
cd is indicated by the statement that
it has made 20 grains Of wheat pro-
duce 100000 in one year.
The method consists in preparing
seed beds in widely spaced lines ON
very mellow land, then at the end of
two months dividing the tufts spring
ms from each grain, replanting each
OF these rooted shoots thus detached,
and finally in hoeing and earthing up
those 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 ad-
ventitious shoots. each of which bears
an ear. saa 4, I gaa PE3je,Ftt.
The system Is not really new, but a
very ancient one, used immemorially
by the Chinese, and to 1t is due the
enormous yield of their fields, which
have been treated like gardens. E,lt
While our q farmers throw broad
cast handfuls of grain on the har-
rowed earth, offering rich ,pasturage
to pillaging birds and rodents, the
Chinaman, after furrowing the earth
with his wooden plow-share without
turning 1t, crumbles each lump in his
hands till 1t is like fine powder. This
done, at planting time he walks slow
ly down each furrow, carrying a grain
drill, which is a marvel of ingenious
simplicity. 80.
Picture to yourself two pointed
plow- shares about 20 inches apart
and connected by a transverse bar
supporting a hopper filed with grain
fro mwhich issue two slender bamboo
tubes designed to conduct the grains
SO that each will drop In the wake OF
one Of the shares. The diameter OF
each tube is Just great enough to al
low the passage Of one grain at o
time without letting it drop until II
receives the impulse of q slight shock
given by means Of the handles which
complete the apparatus. -! ~
The soweri pushes the drill in front
Of him, inclining 1t now to the right
and now to the left In such a way
that each inclination causes the issue
of a single seed. which Is instantly
pressed under by the track of one foot
or the other. Each grain is thus plant
ed at a distance Of 16 to 20 inches
from its neighbors In every direction
At the end Of q few weeks germin-
alton begins. When the young plant
is ten or twelve inches in height there
are a score of stalks about Its stem
each provided with q fringe Of root
lets. The farmer covers each with
loose earth by means Of careful hoe
ing, thus raising the level Of the fur
row. Each stalk again proliferates
and there are soon fifteen to twenty
new stalks around its stem. which de-
tach themselves. All are the indirect
issue of single grain, which proves
therefore to have been the parent OF
800 to 400 stalks, each bearing an
ear. .a..wg ,,a 8.i
Transferring this method to expert
mental fields and perfecting 1t, 1t has
been found possible to separate from
the stem each Of the primitive stalk.
lets with its own roots, transplant IT.
and then treat in the same way each
of the new plants thus formed.
An Algerian French farmer, Mr.
Bourdiol-H -Humbert, has been planting
wheat and oats in the same fields fol
five years, without the application OF
manure. He makes his burrows SO
inches apart and plants the seeds
therein at distance Of 20 inches
from each other. Then he harrows
the earth constantly, stirring the soil
destroying its parasites and keeping
1t pulverized. For five years, without
fertilizing, without distribution OF
crops and without rotation, he has
harvested an average yield Of 1900
pounds of oats per-a acre and 1000 OF
wheat, while his neighbor's yield was
a scant 500 pounds of oats and 500 OF
wheat.-New York American.