Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1910 — Wheat Cultivation and Fertilization. [ARTICLE]

Wheat Cultivation and Fertilization.

By L. W. Hubbell, Francesville, Ind. In the culture of wheat it is of the utmost importance that the seed bed be well and thoroughly prepared before seeding. This should consist of plowing or disking sufficiently in advance of sewing to permit the soil to become compact and solid, but natural conditions in connection with cultivation, otherwise the ground should be made solid by the use of a good roller and cultivation. Of course too much importance cannot be attached to the surface of the ground being level and smooth, thus enabling the seed to be planted at a uniform and even depth. When wheat is sown in standing corn the condition of .the, surface is usually favorable to the reception of the seed. A great mater of concern is the qualify of the seed, and no ordinary expense nor time should prevent any farmer that expects the best results from securing the very best variety of clean wheat adapted to his soil and climate, and Co make a long story short I would refer you to the experiment station at Purdue University, Lafayette, for the most practical and up-to-date information to be had along this line. The supply of the best wheat is limited and those who apply early are the fortunate ones.

The “time of seeding” means much more than it ordinarily has credit for. The idea that we must wait until ver/ late to avoid the ravages of the fly is most of the time a delusion as by so doing we many more times jeapardize the prospects of a paying -wheat crop than we have to get a paying crop from late sewing. At most we usually only have the corn slightly damaged by the fly in early sowing which same damages occur more frequent by late sowing on account of the plant not having proper opportunity to develope root and top to carry itself through the winter. The old and successful wheat raisers used to seed the last week in August and the first week in September, and if the growth of top was too large and would be in dangeof smothering under the snow by reason of excessive growth they would pasture it at times when the slock \ ould not harm the crop by tramping it.

—The drill is factor, which must be taken into account, and there should be no trouble to make this selection since these implements have been improved lo such a high point of perfection. Taking it from a practical and economical and allround standpoint when .commercial manures are applied, a grain drill with fertilizer attachment cannot be improved upon, thereby economizing time and expense. But after all these things have been adhered to strictly, then we must reckon the condition of the soil with reference to its productive possibilities, as with every thing else favorable and the soil impoverished or out of balance in plant food the greatest success is impossible. Recognizing that it is taken as a fact that wheat cannot be raised successfully on poorly drained lands any more than any other crops, we pass this proposition by with the declaration that “proper drainage is one of the essential factors in wheat cultivation.” In a successful growing wheat the legumes or clovers should never be lost sight of in helping to keep the soil in proper condition as well as to assist in furnishing plant food. The soil must be rich in all the elements of plant food and they in their relative position and interdependence must be well balanced to assure wheat raising a money maker, and so whatever is lacking in the turning under of the legums or applying of domestic manures you cannot afford to not fail in applying the commercial manures in proper formula to balance it up. We call it manure because this is correct and domestic manure is also fertilizer. Commercial manure or fertilizer should be applied to wheat at the rate of not less than 200 pounds per acre and may be applied broadcast with an end gate seeder tis no wind) or a low down fertilizer distributor before sewing and disked in well (not harrowed in as this leaves it too close to the surface.) Perhaps the best field of wheat in Pulaski county applied as last above named and one bushel of wheat per acre was drilled in one wav across the field and three pecks the other way. +

The ordinary soils of the countm are lacking in a balanced plant, food for wheat as well as for corn and an intelligent application of a proper formula to wheat should pay as well as an investment as on corn. A great incentive in the increased growing of wheat aside from its prof-

it, should be to diminish the acreage of oats which has proven in a general way not to have been of very much profit for several years past for the reason that the rotation of crops has been too limited. To make the greatest success of producing wheat it should not be sown on the same lands oftener than once in three or four years. There must positively be a larger course or series of rotation of crops in the growing of wheat as well as of all other cereals in order to assist in attaining the most desirable results.

Don’t make the mistake of sowing foul seed, or in other words, don’t sow wheat with any foreign seeds In it and expect to get the proper returns of credit for being an up-to-date farmer. Don’t expect your wheat to turn to cheat nor your timothy to redtop, nor your redtop to tickle grass. (As a tadpole will turn to a mule just as quick) As the seed that you sow and the seeds that are already in the ground or what may be carried by various ways are the seeds that you harvest. Sow good wheat and reap its kind, as it is too expensive to buy twine and pay harvest hands and for the threshing machine to get foul weeds ready for market and then be knocked all out of balance by the elevator man refusing to give you a premium on your grain, after you have gone to so much trouble and expense to bring him a little of everything that both you and your neighbors raised on your farms, in with your wheat. Its awful how particular these elevator men are.