Smyrna times., 1920-09-22

What fertilizer should be used, when
should wheat be planted and what
varieties are best The Extension
News will cover the subject in this
and the September number of the
paper. In this article will be treated:
The Wheat. Situation, Cultural treat
ment and Fertilization. In another
special article dealing with the treat
ment to prevent "bust" or sinking
smut. The second article will take
up Time of Planting, Rate of Seeding
and Varieties which give best results
in Delaware.
The Wheat Situation
The latest United States reports
show that the carry over of wheat
from 1919 is 1O8,51O,OO0 bushels
which added to the total estimated
yield of all wheat for 1920 of 795
million bushels, makes a grand total
of 9O3 million bushels. Last year the
same total according to the final gov
eminent figures was 994 million BUSH
els. Of this total amount 600 mil
lion bushels are consumed in the
United States and the remainder is
available for export purposes.
The impC can't point to remember
is that with a good crop of wheat in
the country this year we have fewer
bushels than in 1919 and about the
normal production of the last ten
years. On this same basis it would
seem wise that Delaware farmers
should plan to seed about the normal
wheat acreage.
Delaware's wheat production for
1920 is estimated at 2,195,000 bushels
which is an increase over the 10 year
average of about 15&t. Delaware
grows annually about 145,O00 acres
of wheat and the ten year average
yield per acre was 16 bushels from
1909 to 1918. How does the wheat
crop compare with other crops in re-
turns? If we use the five year aver
age yield for the State and the aver
age farm price per bushel we shall
find that the acre value of the grain
crops is as follows in Delaware:
Wheat S2523, Corn $32.37, Buck
wheat $21.93 and Hay $24.6O per
acre. But every farmer knows that
some crops cost more to produce than
others. 1t takes 20% more horse
labor and $50 more man labor to
grow an acre of corn than an acre of
wheat. Wheat gives greater returns
for the labor expended than any other
crop excepting hay. Fortunately we
have authentic records of the cost of
producing and marketing an acre as
we'll as a bushel of wheat On 481
farms in the middle west the depart
ment of agriculture found the cost
per bushel averaged $2.15 and that
the range was from $1.00 to $500
A similar study carried out in Penn
sylvania last year on "A farms in II
different counties showed that the
cost was $34.43 per acre or $1.76 pei
bushel for a 1875 bushel yield pei
acre. Using the average farm price
of $3.50 per bushel for 1919 in Penn
sylvania it would require IS bushels
per acre to pay the cost of produc-
ton. AS a large number of our farm
ers in Delaware are producing less
than Is bushels per acre, we need ir
order to make the business profitable
to discuss how our yield per acre may
be increased and at profit.
Factors Controlling Yield
According to the data based on The
field crop experimentation at Della
ware College, four factors stand out
prominently as affecting the yield Of
wheat, namely, (D soil preparation
(2) fertilization, (3) time of seeding
and (4) variety.
Under the topic soil preparation we
refer to the tilage and cultural meth
ods as applied to the crop and also
the matter of crop rotation. In the
long run the rotation of crops ir
which wheat has a place has a most
important bearing on the yield OF
, wheat. Every rotation should include
one or more legums as, for example
corn, wheat and clover or corn, soy
beans, wheat and celery, the lattel
being one of the rotations being car
ried out on the college farm. Wheat
planted dIJef corn or tomatoes Jlld
are late in maturing is handicapped
r because insufficient time is allowed
for plowing and seed bed preparation
We're our winters more severe in Del
t aware this latter factor would be very
t important. In the second rotation re-
. ferred to above the soy beans may bC
a taken off for hay or seed in time fOl
. the preparation of a good seed bed
|. The ideal seed bed for wheat is ont
/ which is well compacted underneath
Y with fine mulch of earth on top O.
!. to inches. Too much emphasis
). cannot be given to the cultural phase
1 of wheat growing as poor preparation
). cannot be made up or offset by othe
E factors affecting yield.
f Well Balanced Fertilizers.
: The second prime factor in growing
q wheat is that of securing economical
), and well balanced fertilizers. Wit
= nitrogen at $500 per unit, potash a
h 1925 and phosphoric acid at $500 pc
:, unit fertilizer problem is a seriou
: one. Of course wheat is higher il