Show WHEAT GROWING the preparation of tho tile seed bed and od of f suitable plant rood I 1 tho the preparation of the seed bed and 1 the feed are the two chief points to be considered in wheat growing concern I 1 ing which the rural new yorker makes tho the following recommendations the tile upper two inches of the soil are about all the wheat plant has any use for but this part cannot bo be too carefully or finely worked to plow and stir the soil as deeply for wheat as wo we do 10 for po I 1 matoes w would injure rather than help the crop because the seed would be placed too dee deep p in a soil bat that would surely run together puddle paddle and heave as waitr heat beat or frost came in excess the ideal seed bed would bo be two inches of soil as fine and open as a bod bed of ashes on top of a firm solid foundation W we 0 bee from this why the roller is so popular with those who plow their wheat ground deeply the heavy roller firms and compacts the tile soil crushing and powdering the lumps and pushing tho the seed bed into a solid and cOm compact fact form without the roller such deeply plowed soil would bo be too open and the seed would not only be delayed in starting up but bitt would be injured by the heaving and settling of tho the ground this also explains why potato ground that is to go into wheat is seldom or never plowed by the best growers the work of the potato digger and cultivator or one of the now new diggers like the cutaway harrow harr ow is sufficient to stir up the ground to the necessary depth and if thoroughly fined with a harrow such ground will usually do better than tharl when plowed deeply in fact the best place for wheat in a rotation is after somo sonio crop like potatoes eliat had so much working during luring the tile growing g season that a light harrowing or cultivating will properly fit the land for wheat the use USO of the tile roller is ix be comin coming more general particularly on farms where wheat is sowed bowed on newly plowed grounds or on a summer fallow the following seasons for using the roller are given by the tile wisconsin experiment peri ment station first F rolling makes the temperature at 1 inches below the surface from I 1 deg to 9 begs fahrenheit wanner than similar unrolled ground in the same samo locality and at three inches I 1 deg to 6 begs warmer second rolling land by firming the coil soil increases its power of drawing water to tho the surface from below and this influence has been observed to extend to a depth of three feet third tho 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 fourtly in cases of broadcast seeding germination is more rapid and complete on rolled than on unrolled it was 63 percent per cent greater on rolled greatest in dry and least in wet weather and weighed about two pounds per bushel the most rolled oats ts yielded a trifle over two bushels more per acre in this thin mellow seed bed suitable plant food must bo be placed evenly and in afine a fine condition big thick lumps of chable manure are out of place in a wheat seeding the great work of pr pra e pari paring ng the seed bod bed lias has been to crush up all clods and lumps the young wheat plantis plant is tender it will have a hard trial I 1 during the winter and must make a good growth and push its roots in firmly before it can hope to live its food must bo be within reach and BO so soluble that the plants can call readily uso use it with the usual fitting that wheat ground receives stable manure is not a good dressing for wheat seeding we should prefer to use all the stable manure on the corn thus condensing the farms fertility and the corn directly and tho the wheat indirectly if used on oil wheat at all we should prefer to apply it la in winter as a mulch for the young crop |