Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1913-07-26
REPRODUC!NGWHEAT
One Grain Is Made to Bear Thirty
Thousand in Year.
It is an Old Chinese Method-Pian
Has Been Adopted In France and
Has TrIpled the Yield In
Some Sections.

Great interest is taken In France
just now in new method by which
the yield of crops per acre is enorm-
ously 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 method
is Indicated by the statement that 1t
has made twenty 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
ing from each grain, replanting each
of these rooted shoots thus detached
and finally In hoeing and earthing up
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 an
ear
The system is not really new, but a
very ancient one, used immemorialIy
by 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 1t, crum-
bles each-lump In his hands till 1t Is
like the powder This done. at plant
Ing time he walks slowly down each
furrow, carrying grain drill, which
is a marvel of ingenious simplicity
Picture to yourself two pointed
plowshares about 20 inches apart and
connected by a transverse bar sup
porting a hopper filled with grain
from which issue two slender bamboo
tubes designed to conduct the grain so
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 1t receives the
impulse of slight shock given by
means of the handles which complete
the apparatus
The sower 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 planted at
distance of 16 to 20 inches from its
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 400
stalks, each bearing an ear.
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
let's 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
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, de-
stroying its parasites and keeping II |
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 acre and 1900 OF |
wheat, while his neighbor's yield was
a scant $40 pounds of oats and 500 of
wheat.