Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1872 — How to Leave the Wheat Fields. [ARTICLE]

How to Leave the Wheat Fields.

There is a difference of opinion among good,farmers as to whether the wheat field should be-roHed-before or after drilling in the sod. There is no doubt that rolling, if the ground be dry enough, either before or after sowing, is as important and beneficial an operation as harrowing. It crushes the lumps, compacts the soil and smooths'the surface. Those who favor rolling after sowing contend that by thus smoothing the surface the water passes off flat land more rapidly in the winter and spring, and that ice -will not form over, the wheat to smother it. This is undoubtedly true on flat land, but where it is rolling the drill ridges serve as where it is rolling the drill ridges’serve as a great protection to wheat, and the water passes off readily enough. So as to the time of rolling the wheat field the grower must be governed by circumstances. "Water standing still is a great enemy to the wheat crop. If the soil holds it drainage is needed before the crop can be matje certain. Underdrainageis best; but lli'The absence of this a great deal can be accomplished by judicious surface drainage. Surface ditches are barriers to the reapingmachine,which no good farmer likes to have in his Meld, but in many cases they must be endured. However, the drain may be made of such easy slope by plowing out two or three furrows each side, and smoothing the bottom so that the reaper will have but little trouble in passing. But this work must be done either before sowing or before the grain has sprouted. In many instances the roller may be substituted in place of the plow in'sur-face-draining the wheat field. Pass this once or twice along the hollows and runs, so as to form a smooth passage for the surface wafer, and it will take the place of a furrow very well.— American Rural Home.