Lib,
Scientific Soil Culture Series
RICHARD A. HASTE, Editor
Manual of Soil Culture — Campbell
Wheat— TenEyck
IN PREPARATION
The Soil—lTillard
Plant Growth— Haste
Soil Tillage— Campbell
Soil Biology — 'Bo I ley
Orchard and Small Fruits — Stephens
Plant Breeding — Buffum
Irrigation and Drainage — Haste
Manual of Soil Culture, two volumes — Campbell
Farm Management — Haste
Campbell Soil Culture Publishing Co,
Lincoln, Nebraska
WHEAT
Practical Discussion of the Raising,
Marketing, Handling and Use of the
Wheat Crop, Relating Largely
to the Great Plains Region
of the United States
and Canada
BY
A. M. TEN EYCK
epartment, Iowa State
of AsronCT.vac.- P~:e
re State A'gricuitnnl
t. Han
FIRST EDITION
.
C A V F S E L L
l°lA
Copyrighted by Campbell Soil Culture Pub. Co.
1914
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Introduction 9
II. Habits and Types 15
III. Seed Improvement 29
IV. Soil, Climate and Cultivation . . 38
V. Wheat Seeding and Cultivation . . 59
VI. Harvest and Yield 70
VII. Threshing and Marketing .... 81
VIII. Wheat Enemies ....... 92
IX. Maintaining Soil Fertility .... 100
X. Wheat on the Pacific Coast ... 122
XI. Wheat Growing in Canada ... 134
XII. Culture Methods 146
XIII. Rotation of Crops 157
XIV. Seeding Machinery 163
APPENDIX
Individual Practices'
How to Run a Binder ':
169
187
Index , 192
PREFACE
This little book deals largely with the wheat
culture of the Great Plains region of the United
States and Canada, but the writer has attempted
also, to give some general information on the
raising, marketing, handling and use of the wheat
crop. This book is not technical but treats the
subject in a practical way and is written especially
for the study and use of those who are engaged
in wheat farming.
During my fifteen years experience in wheat
farming, five years in North Dakota and ten years
in Kansas, in connection with the state agricul-
tural colleges, I have gained some special knowl-
edge of culture methods and practice which may
be of value to others who are engaged in the wheat
growing business. In preparing the following
pages I have also consulted other authorities on
the subject and have frequently quoted from wheat
books and bulletins. I wish to refer especially
to " Cereals in America" by Thomas F. Hunt,
and the "Book of Wheat" by Peter Tracy Dond-
linger as being among the best authorities on the
subject. For the illustrations shown in figures 1,
4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 22, I am
indebted to the courtesy of the Kansas experi-
ment station and the Ft. Hays branch station.
Perhaps this book is hardly worthy of a formal
dedication, but I wish to present it with my heart-
iest good wishes to the dry land farmers of the
western plains and the Pacific slope, hoping that
it will help them to solve the great problems of
western agriculture, help to make dry farming
profitable and permanent and thus establish the
homes and happiness of those splendid men and
women of the great west.
A. M. TEN EYCK,
Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa.
Jan. 1, 1914
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Wheat is the world's greatest cereal crop. Both
corn and oats exceed wheat in bulk, but by weight
the four great cereals rank in the order of their
production as follows: Wheat, corn, oats, rice.
It may be of interest to observe that in bulk or
bushels oats ranks first, corn second, wheat third,
and rice fourth. But as a food for human con-
sumption, wheat ranks first, rice second, corn
third, and oats fourth. Rice and wheat were the
grains of the early eastern civilizations. Corn
was the great food plant of the natives of Central
and North America. Rice is today the chief food
of half of the people of the earth.
THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION OF CEREALS
In the United States the order of production is
in part reversed, corn ranking first, wheat second,
and oats third by weight; but in bulk, oats ranks
secorid and wheat third. Rice is grown to only a
limited extent in the United States but it is the
principal grain crop of China, India, Japan and
other Asiatic countries. The agricultural year
book gives the total yield of these grains in the
world and in the United States in 1910 as follows:
(9)
10
WHEAT
United State's Crop World's Crop
1. Wheat. . . . 695,443,000 bushels. . . 3,650,952,000 bushels
2. Corn 3,125,713,000 bushels. . . 3,672,636,000 bushels
3. Oats 1,126,765,000 bushels. . . 4,146,512,000 bushels
4. Rice *710,289,000 pounds. . . 190,186,068,000 pounds
*Crop of 1909.
The world's crop of wheat in 1910 was produced
as follows:
Bushels
North America . 855,433,000
South America . 159,753,000
Europe 1,952,531,000
Bushels
Asia 508,152,000
Africa 72,886,000
Australasia 102,197,000
Total 3,650,952,000
LARGEST WHEAT PRODUCING STATES
The states producing more than 25,000,000
bushels of wheat in 1910 with the average yields
per acre for the ten year period, 1901-1910, are
given as follows:
State
Total Production
1910
(Bushels)
Average per Acre
Yield 1901-1910
(Bushels)
Missouri
25,130,000
14.31
Oklahoma
Washington
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Illinois
North Dakota
25,363,000
25,603,000
27,697,000
31,493,000
31,500,000
36,105,000*
12.56
22.34
16.93
15.95
15.66
12.08
Nebraska
39,515,000
17.87
Indiana
South Dakota
Kansas
Minnesota
40,981,000
46,720,000
62,068,000
91,080,000
15.19
12.75
13.64
13.55
United States
6f5,443,000
14.28
*Drouth cut the North Dakota crop in two in 1910.
The wheat countries, producing more than
100,000,000 bushels in 1910 are given in order
of their total production as follows :
WHEAT 11
Bushels Bushels
Russia 755,695,000 Canada 149,990,000
United States. . . . 695,443,000 Germany 141,884,000
British India 357,941,000 Spain 137,448,000
France 268,364,000 Argentina 131,010,000
Austria Hungary. 255,162,000 Roumania 110,761,000
Italy 153,337,000
PRODUCTION OF WINTER AND SPRING WHEAT
Wheat is most largely grown in cool, temperate
climates. Its winter growing habit and early
maturing season make it especially well suited to
the higher and drier sections of the middle and
western states. The varieties adapted to fall
seeding are grown in the warmer wheat sections,
but there are many spring sorts adapted to the
colder climates.
Of the states named, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Minnesota and Washington grow prin-
cipally spring wheat. The other states grow
largely winter wheat. In the United States much
more winter wheat than spring wheat is grown.
The production of each in 1911 is given in the
year book as follows:
Winter wheat 430,656,000 bushels
Spring wheat 190,682,000 bushels
Total 621,338',000 bushels
DISTRIBUTION OF THE WHEAT CROP OF THE UNITED
STATES
The amount of wheat exported by the United
States has decreased rapidly during the last ten
years, even while our production was increasing.
This is due to the great increase in population.
The distribution and consumption of wheat in
12 WHEAT
the United States for the past fifteen years is
shown in Table I. If the present rate of increase
in the home consumption of wheat continues our
surplus for export will be wiped out in six years,
and the United States will become an importer
of wheat and flour rather than an exporter.
WHEAT PRODUCTION IN CANADA
In 1912, Canada produced 199,236,000 bushels
of wheat on 9,758,400 acres or an average yield
of 20.42 bushels per acre. A somewhat larger
crop was reported for 1911, viz., 215,918,000
bushels. Most of this wheat was grown in the
western provinces, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and
Alberta. The total production of these three
provinces is placed at 183,322,000 bushels in
1912 and 194,083,000 bushels in 1911. The
acreage and production of each province in 1912
are given as follows:*
Province
Manitoba . .
Acres
2,653,100
Total Crop
Bushels
58,899,000
Saskatchewan ....
4,891,500
93,849,000
Alberta .
1,417,200
30,574,000
Total
8,961,800
183,322,000
The total acreage grown in the three provinces
in 1911 was reported as 9,301,293 bushels.
The wheat acreage of Canada has doubled in
five years, and the average yield per acre has also
increased, exceeding the average acre-yield in the
United States by more than five bushels per acre
*Total yield for Canada 1913, 210,998,800 bushels.
WHEAT
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14 WHEAT
in 1911 and 1912. This increased acre-yield is
due in part to favorable seasons and also to the
practice of better culture methods and to the
planting of adapted, early-maturing varieties.
There has been an unprecedented development
of the Canadian northwest since 1903. If this
rate of development continues for the next ten
years, Canada will rank with Russia and the
United States as one of the three greatest wheat
producing countries of the world. It is estimated
that there are in the three western provinces
about 180,000,000 acres available for cultivation,
the greater part of which is adapted to wheat
growing. Of this area, not more than 6% is at
present under cultivation. There is enough good
wheat land in the western provinces alone when
this land is brought under cultivation, to produce
two billion bushels of wheat annually, and allow
one-third of the land to lie fallow each year. To
the north of Alberta and Saskatchewan in the
territories of Mackenzie, Keewatin, Ungava and
Yukon lies an immense area of more than 900,000,-
000 acres, some of which will eventually be cul-
tivated in wheat, as shown by the fact that wheat
has already been successfully grown at several
points within this region.
WHEAT 15
CHAPTER II
HABITS AND TYPES
BOTANICAL RELATIONS
Wheat belongs to the family of true grasses
(Gramineae). The grass family is a large and
very important one because of the great number
of species that supply both grain and hay. They
include all the standard varieties of small grains,
corn, grain-sorghums and all grasses used for
hay and fodder. The cultivated grains and grasses
furnish the staple foods for man and beast the
world over,
HABITS AND STRUCTURE OF PLANT
The leaves of wheat are slender and ribbon-like
and attached to the stem at the nodes in the form
of a sheath covering the internodes. The stems
are round and usually hollow; height, three to
five feet. You have noticed the mass of leaves
clustered close to the ground when the plants are
young and observed how quickly they are carried
up off the ground when the wheat begins to stem
or "boot." Fall sown grains produce only leaves
until early spring, then the plant stems lengthen,
not only by growing at the tip but the internodes
grow in length also. When a field of grain is
blown down or lodged, it may "straighten up"
due to the fact that the cells on the under side
of the stem increase and grow faster than the
cells on the upper side. Also, renewed growth
occurs at the nodes to strengthen the stem.
16 WHEAT
FLOWER AND FRUIT
Wheat flowers have pistils and stamens but no
colored showy parts. The stamens and pistils
are protected by greatly shortened leaves called
glumes or palea. Short spikelets containing one
to three small flowers are closely attached to the
fruiting stem (rachis) and form a close compact
head or spike. It has been found that the anthers
shed their pollen and the stigmas become moist
before the flowers open, and are thus normally
close fertilized. There is probably little or no
natural crossing in wheat. Hays found that wheat
flowers open and close in the early morning, the
operation consuming only twenty to forty min-
utes.*
GERMINATION AND ROOTS
When the seed sprouts, the shoot grows upwards
and forms a second growth of roots that are per-
manent, the first set eventually dying. The
length of the first shoot varies according to the
depth of soil covering. If the seed is covered
deeply it will grow to within one to two inches of
the surface before forming the permanent roots.
Too deep planting may therefore weaken the plant
and reduce the growth and yield. The root system
of wheat and all other cereals and grasses consists
of slender, much-branched rootlets. There is no
a tap root.
*Minnesota Experiment Station Bulletin No. 62.
WHEAT 17
STOOLING
In wheat and nearly all cereals and grasses more
than one stem is formed from each seedling. This
is called stooling or tillering. It is a characteristic
to be encouraged in small grains. It is due to
the branching of the stem below the ground just
after the permanent roots are formed. Each
branch soon forms its own roots. Cool, damp
weather during the early growth of the grain
favors stooling, as does also a fertile soil. Furrow
planting (listing) of small grains seems to favor
stooling, but in the case of corn it appears to
retard the tendency to " sucker." Thick seeding
checks the vigor of individual plants and reduces
stooling. However the thickly planted grain may
mature earlier and more evenly, and may make
larger yields. The character of soil, the moisture
supply, temperature and altitude affect the stool-
ing habit, the cooler drier climates being favor-
able. The amount of seed sown- per acre varies.
Thin seeding gives hardier, stronger plants, larger
stools with stronger and deeper feeding roots, and
is preferred in dry climates and for the less fertile
soils.
THE GRAIN
The wheat grain is a dry, indehiscent fruit
which has the pod and a single seed incorporated
in one body. Such a fruit is called a caryqpsis.
The grain is about two and a half times as long
as it is broad, with a hairy apex, oval in shape but
slightly compressed laterally, with a furrow or
groove on the side opposite the embryo caused by
2
is
g-a
WHEAT 19
a deep infolding of the pericarp or bran. The
physical parts of the wheat grain and their average
proportions are as follows:
Seed covering or bran 5.0 %
Aleurone layer enclosing endosperm and embryo 3.5%
Embryo 6.5%
Endosperm or main portion of grain 84.0%
The endorsperm is the portion from which the
flour is made. It is made up largely of starch
cells but contains also about 8 to 10% of gluten.
>Fhe aleurone layer is composed of a single row
ofTarge cells known as aleurone or gluten cells,
but this part is not included in the flour.
The bran is made up of six layers of cells, the
three outer layers being the pod or pericarp, and
the inner layers the coverings of the ovule or
seed proper.
The embryo may be divided into the vegetative
portion which contains the miniature first leaves
and roots of the new plant, and the scutellum or
absorbent organ which at germination , dissolves
the substance of the endosperm and transfers
it to the vegetative portion. The embryo con-
tains a high percentage of ash, about 16% of fat,
33% of protein and considerable quantities of
carbohydrates, mainly sugar.
VARIATION IN SIZE
Bessey estimates the cubic content of a wheat
grain to be twenty to thirty cubic millimeters.
Richardson found an average of 12,000 grains
in a pound of wheat. There were variations of
8,000 to 24,000 grains to the pound. Thus one
bushel of seed in one case would be equivalent
20 WHEAT
to three bushels in the other, so far as individual
grains are concerned. The standard (and gen-
erally legal) weight per bushel (2,150.42 cu. in.)
of wheat is sixty pounds. The measured bushel
may vary in weight from fifty to sixty-five pounds.
The color of the grain varies from light yellow
to dark red. Hardness of grain and high nitrogen
content are usually associated with a deep red or
clear amber color.
SPECIES AND VARIETIES
There are seven or eight different species or
sub-species of wheat. Only one of these types is
generally grown in the United States. This is
the common milling wheat of the world, the
botanical name of which is Triticum sativum
vulgare. It includes practically all of the winter
wheat and most of the spring wheat grown in
this country. The species Triticum sativum
durum, commonly called durum wheat or maca-
roni wheat, which is used largely in the manu-
facture of macaroni, also succeeds well as a
spring wheat in the drier portions of the Dakotas,
Nebraska and Kansas.
There are several divisions of the species
Triticum sativum vulgare such as the hard and
soft wheat; and either of these may be divided
into several groups as red hard wheat, white hard
wheat, red soft wheat and white soft wheat.
Furthermore, there are bearded and beardless
types of each of these groups, and while some
varieties have smooth chaff others have a rough
or velvety chaff. There are red chaff and white
WHEAT 21
chaff varieties also. The varietal names number
into the hundreds, and often there is no marked
characteristic to distinguish the variety. Carleton
has tested, studied and described 245 leading
varieties of wheat out of one thousand or more
samples secured from all parts of the world.*
TYPES OR GENERA
The wheat genus includes five other types as
follows:
Einkorn Triticum monococcum
Spelt Triticum sativum spelta
Emmer Triticum sativum dicoccum
Poulard wheat Triticum sativum turgidum
Polish wheat Triticum polonicum
These types of wheat were largely cultivated
in ancient times in eastern Asia, Egypt, Greece
and Italy. They are usually hardy and drouth-
resistant, and are grown to a limited extent today
in dry areas and cold climates but more for feed
for livestock than for human food. These grains
produce an inferior type of flour.
It may be of interest to note here that the
"Alaska" wheat, much advertised a few years
ago by promoters as a wheat of wonderful yield-
ing power, belongs to the Poulard group. It is
a variety having branching spikes and is also
called "Multiple Head Wheat," "Egyptian
Wheat" and "Wheat of Miracle." Thomas F.
Hunt in his "Cereals in America," speaks of this
variety as a "sport having no value."
*United States Bulletin No. 24, Division of Vegetable Physi-
ology.
22 WHEAT
THE BEST VARIETIES TO PLANT
A large number of varieties of winter wheat
have been tested at the Kansas experiment station
during the past ten years. Among the better
producing varieties as shown by these trials are
Kharkof, Crimean, Turkey Red, Malakoff,
Ghirka, Theiss, Weisenberg, Defiance, Bearded
(winter) Fife, Fultz, Fulcaster, Mediterranean,
Currell and Zimmerman.
It is important to observe that of the varieties
named, the Ghirka is the only hard red wheat
with bald or beardless heads which has proved
to be a good producer. The last five varieties
named are of the soft wheat type; the Fultz,
Fulcaster, and Mediterranean are bearded, the
other two are beardless. The first nine varieties
named are the hard red wheat, and all of these but
the Ghirka are of the bearded Turkey type gen-
erally grown in Kansas and throughout the
western winter wheat belt. The adaptation of
varieties varies for different conditions of soil
and climate. The reader is referred to his state
experiment station for information regarding
best producing varieties for a particular state or
locality.
TYPES OF SPRING WHEAT
The more important types of spring wheat are the
Fife, Bluestem, Velvet Chaff, Durum and Club
Head. There are a number of minor varieties
of each of these types. Fife is a beardless, smooth
chaff, hard wheat. There are both red and white
WHEAT 23
%
grained varieties. Bluestem is a beardless velvet
chaff wheat with grain of medium hard quality
and reddish color. Velvet Chaff is a trade name
for several varieties of bearded soft wheat. Club
Head is a soft white wheat with short, stubby,
very compact heads, usually beardless, with
smooth chaff. All of the types and varieties
named above except the Durum wheat, belong
to the group "Common Wheat," Triticum sativum
vulgare. The Club Head is usually classed as a
sub-species, Triticum compactum. Carleton has
given the natural groups of wheat and the names
of all leading varieties adapted for growing in the
different wheat districts of the world.*
MILLING VARIETIES
Two general types of milling wheat are grown
in the United States, hard wheat and soft wheat.
The great plains region is particularly adapted
for growing hard red wheat of excellent quality,
the best bread making wheat in the world. Nearly
half of the wheat grown in the United States is
grown in the north central states west of the
Mississippi river, viz: Minnesota, Iowa, Mis-
souri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska
and Kansas. These states are mainly in the hard
wheat belt, as are also Oklahoma and Texas. The
Rocky mountain states also grow some hard wheat.
Soft wheat is grown in the more humid climates,
mainly in the north-eastern and north central
' United States Bulletin No. 24, Division of Vegetable Physi-
ology.
24
WHEAT
states east of the Mississippi river, and on the
Pacific coast. The red soft wheat is grown in
the eastern states, and the white soft wheat is
grown mainly in Washington, Oregon and Cali-
fornia.
HARD AND SOFT WHEAT CHARACTERISTICS
Hard wheat has a grain of a more or less clear
amber color. When cut, the texture appears very
compact and firm. Soft wheat has an opaque
color, the kernels are usually plumper and lighter
in weight than hard wheat, and when broken
the grain presents a white, starchy appearance.
It usually contains less gluten than a good quality
of hard wheat, and is deficient in gliadin, the
Fig. 3. — A field of beardless spring wheat, North Dakota.
WHEAT 25
plastic part of gluten which gives the tenacity to
dough and affects its rising quality. The best
quality of light bread cannot be made from soft
wheat flour. Hence, soft wheat flour is used more
largely for pastries. But a certain proportion of
soft wheat is used to blend with hard wheat in the
manufacture of the best patent flour.
VARY WITH CLIMATE
The hardness apd texture of the grain may vary
not only in different varieties but with the climate
and season in which the wheat is grown. Hard
wheat varieties which characterize dry regions
become softer when grown in moist climates.
It becomes necessary therefore, in the more
humid sections where hard wheat is grown for
the farmers to change seed wheat every few years,
securing the new seed from the drier sections
farther west and north where the best quality
of hard wheat is produced. Recent experiments
in breeding wheat indicate that the hard char-
acter may be maintained in the more humid
sections by " head-row" breeding by which pedi-
greed strains are produced from a single head or
plant which has retained the character of hardness
even under the adverse conditions.*
DURUM OR MACARONI WHEAT
Durum wheat is a bearded type of wheat of
which there are several distinct varieties, varying
in color of chaff, smoothness of glumes, etc., but
'Bulletin No. 156 Kansas Experiment Station, by Roberts
& Freeman.
26 WHEAT
all having the characteristically hard, flinty grain
which is particularly adapted to the manufacture
of macaroni; also flour from this wheat is now
being used to make bread, which is somewhat
darker in color than bread from patent flour, but
it is nutritious and has an agreeable taste and
some people prefer it to ordinary wheat bread.
As a spring wheat it is rapidly coming into use in
the northwestern states. It is more hardy and
more productive than ordinary spring wheat.
Brought from the dry, hot steppes of Turkestan
and southeastern Russia where it has been grown
for hundreds of years, it is decidedly a dry farm-
ing crop and it is proving to be hardy and well
adapted to the severe climate of the northwest.
It is not so safe a crop and is less productive than
winter wheat in the middle west and in the south-
west. Spring wheat is not well adapted for grow-
ing in Kansas and the states farther south.
MILLING PRODUCTS
Wheat is almost exclusively used for the pro-
duction of flour from which various forms of
human food are made. Varying with the kinds,
quality and grade of wheat and the milling pro-
cesses, the out-turn of mill products are about as
follows :
Flour. . . . 65 to 80% (usually 70 to 75%)
Bran 15 to 20%
Shorts and middlings. . 5 to 8%
The by-products of wheat are highly prized as
food for all classes of livestock, yet within the
memory of persons now living (1913) the bran
WHEAT 27
spout of grist mills emptied its contents into the
river.
Flour is usually run in two or more grades:
1. Patent flour, a clear white grain.
2. Baker's flour, slightly yellow in color.
3. Low grade flour, dark, soft grain and lumpy, containing
particles of bran.
Graham flour is unbolted wheat meal or the
whole wheat ground into a meal, nothing being
removed. Entire wheat flour is wheat meal from
which the coarsest of the bran has been removed.
The weight per bushel is a test in part of the
milling qualities of wheat. "Heavy" wheat tests
fifty-nine pounds or more per bushel. The lighter
wheat gives a larger out-turn of the less valuable
products, bran and shorts. Common causes of
light wheat are unadapted seed, lodging, premature
harvesting, dry hot winds, attacks of insects and
diseases (smut and rust), sprouting in the shock,
etc.
COMPOSITION OF WHEAT AND ITS PRODUCTS
The value of wheat as a human food is due to its
palatability and the attractiveness and great
variety of forms which can be made from it, as
well as to its abundant supply of nutritious sub-
stance. The composition of wheat and its pro-
ducts is given as follows:*
"Hunt's Cereals of America, page 113.
28
WHEAT
TABLE II
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WHEAT AND ITS
PRODUCTS
(PARTS IN 100)
Wheat
Facent
Flour
Bran
Shorts
Mid-
dlings
Water..
Ash
Protein (Wx6. 25)
Crude fiber
Nitrogen free extract
or carbohydrates. . .
Fat
9.07
1.79
14.35
1.68
70.37
2.74
11.48
.39
12.95
.18
73.55
1.45
11.9
5.8
15.4
9.0
53.9
4.0
11.8
4.6
14.9
7.4
56.8
4 5
12.1
3.3
15.6
4.6
60.4
4 0
Phosphoric acid
.82
.18
1.22
AMOUNT OF BREAD FROM FLOUR
The value of flour depends upon the amount
and quality of bread which it will produce. The
amount of bread also depends upon the condition
of baking as regards the amount of water in the
dough, size of loaves, temperature of oven, etc.
The United States department of agriculture,
chemical bulletin No. 4, reports the amount of
bread baked from different flours handled alike,
as varying from 129 pounds to 140 pounds from
each hundred pounds of flour. The flour with the
least percent of nitrogen produced the smallest
percent of bread. Each pound of wheat will pro-
duce about a pound of bread, since the percentage
of flour in wheat averages about 72%.
WHEAT 29
CHAPTER III
SEED IMPROVEMENT
ADAPTATION OF SEED
Planting good, pure seed of well bred wheat of
the type or variety best adapted to the local con-
ditions is one of the most important factors in
successful wheat culture. It is well for the grower
to keep in touch with the state experiment stations
where the varieties are being continually tested
and improved in order to secure the best seed of
the best variety for his state or locality.
The western plains south of the Dakotas is the
land of the hard red winter wheat, and the Turkey
or bearded type is generally best adapted for
growing in this region, but there are different
varieties or strains, some of which are superior to
others in quality, hardiness and productiveness.
The Kharkof (Turkey) wheat has been proved
to be one of the best producing varieties at the
Kansas experiment station.
A MONEY CROP
Wheat is the great "money" crop of a large
part of the dry farming area, yet it is not especially
a drouth resistant crop. Its success is more
largely due to the fact that the crop grows and
matures during a part of the year when drouth and
hot winds are least apt to prevail. On this account
also it makes advantageous use of the moisture
stored in the soil by summer tilling and by
30 WHEAT
careful seedbed preparation. It is true that
western farmers have been depending too much
upon a single crop, and continuous wheat cropping
is rapidly exhausting the soil fertility. The writer
would not discourage the growing of wheat on
this account but rather encourage the practice
of better farming methods, described in these
pages, by which more wheat of better quality
shall be produced on fewer acres without depleting
the fertility of the soil.
Farmers throughout the hard winter wheat
belt are urged to plant hard red winter wheat of
the Turkey type and to secure seed of an improved
variety. It will pay to plant well bred seed of the
best producing varieties, as has been proved by the
tests at the experiment stations and the actual
experience of farmers.
CLEANING AND GRADING
It is advisable to clean seed grain of all trash
and very light kernels. Heavy, plump seed ger-
minates quickly, grows more vigorously, and gives
greater assurance of a regular stand and a large
yield. However, carefully graded, shriveled grain
of a hardy, adapted variety may often be pre-
ferable for planting to well developed seed brought
from a different climate. There are many good
makes of fanning mills and grain graders. The
writer prefers for general use the ordinary fanning
mill with proper sieves and screens for removing
weed seeds and small and broken grains, and which
allows for a strong blast which will remove the
WHEAT 31
chaff and dirt and light weight kernels which are
likely to be deficient in vitality.
TREATMENT FOR SMUT
If the seed wheat is infected with smut, it
should be treated with a solution of formaldehyde
to destroy the smut spores which adhere to the
wheat kernels. (See page 96 for full treatment.)
Treating for smut and careful grading of seed
may not only increase the yield, but by such a
practice it is possible to maintain a good variety
of wheat and improve both the yield and quality
of grain adapted to the soil and climate. All
farmers should take these precautions to increase
their annual yields and to maintain and improve
their seed wheat, but more rapid and more
permanent improvement may be secured by
individual selection of plants and careful breeding.
WHEAT IMPROVEMENT
The best varieties of cereals are strains that
have been continuously and carefully selected
and thus adapted to the soil conditions and ac-
climated to the belt in which they are grown. The
Turkey wheat owes its hardiness and adaptation
for growing in our western plains region largely
to the training which it has received on the steppes
of Russia and Turkestan. The Russian wheat
introduced into the hard wheat belt of this country
has a decided advantage over the soft wheat types
of the eastern states which are not adapted to
dry climatic conditions. It is doubtful, however,
32 WHEAT
if new importations from the old world will give
any advantage over the best local strains which
have been developed in our western states from
the early importations.
FROM DRY TO MOIST CLIMATE
High yielding varieties of wheat from moist
climates generally give lower yields in dry climates
than acclimated or native sorts, and vice versa,
when the conditions are extreme. The quality
of hard wheat in the more humid sections of the
hard wheat belt is improved by planting seed
grown under drier climatic conditions, and if the
change in climate or soil is not too great, the yield
may not be decreased. Such changes of seed from
a dry section to a moister climate should be made
along the same latitude or from the north rather
than from the south because of the later maturing
ing season of the southern grown seed. Also in
changing seed, care should be taken to secure
strains of the best producing varieties because of
the greater inherent tendency of pure strains to
produce well, even under changed climatic
conditions.
HEAD-ROW METHOD OF BREEDING
The more valuable new varieties of cereals that
are now being introduced have resulted from the
careful multiplication of seed from selected in-
dividual plants. In the improvement of small
grain, these plants are selected by a process of
testing and elimination known as the "head-row"
Fig. 4. — Head-row breeding, Kansas Experiment Station. Note
3 difference in head-rows.
34 WHEAT
method of breeding, similar to the "ear-row"
method of breeding corn. A large number of the
choicer heads of a high yielding, well-adapted
variety are selected from the field. Many of these
heads which are inferior in points of structure,
yield and quality, may be discarded, but the grain
from the better heads is saved and planted in
individual rows in the breeding plot. The growth
of the plants, hardiness, yield and quality of the
grain produced by each head is thus determined
and the seed from the best yielding "head-rows"
may be used to plant "increase rows" on the next
year "increase plots" and so on until enough seed
is secured to plant a large field with the new or
pedigreed strain.
This may be accomplished in a relatively short
period of time. In the experience of the writer,
the seed from a single head of wheat containing
thirty kernels planted in the breeding row has
produced a pound of good seed for planting the
second season. If this pound of wheat be planted,
and its product planted the next year and so on,
multiplying at the rate of thirty-fold each year,
it will produce thirty pounds of wheat the first
year, fifteen bushels the second year, and 450
bushels the third year, or enough grain to plant
400 to 500 acres. Thus a single head of wheat
planted in 1913, and its product planted each suc-
ceeding year, may produce enough seed in 1916
to plant several hundred acres of the pedigreed
strain.
WHEAT 35
WORK OF THE EXPERIMENT STATION
Pedigreed, pure bred strains of wheat or other
crops are apt to be more or less locally adapted,
hence local breeding centers are necessary in
order to produce or secure locally adapted, high
yielding varieties. The average grain grower
may not take the time to make " head-row " tests
to improve his seed grain but this work should be
carried on at the experiment stations and the
pedigreed seed increased and distributed to the
farmers, who should grow it separately and keep
it pure and sell the crop for seed to their neighbors,
thus rapidly increasing and distributing the im-
proved seed throughout the community and
throughout the state.
This method of improving our cereal grains
depends simply on discovering the great individ-
uals which are present in every well-adapted
variety, and making them the progenitors of a
new or superior strain of that variety. Its practice
and application are giving remarkable results.
It is particularly valuable for securing rapid im-
provement in dry farming crops. The old method
of adapting crops to the dry farming conditions
by natural selection was too slow because the
field-elimination process allowed many of the
weaker plants to persist and bear seed each year.
The new method discovers the few hardy in-
dividuals at once and eliminates the weaker types
so that the increase may be only from the hardy,
high-producing type.
36 WHEAT
MAINTAIN PURITY AND QUALITY OF IMPROVED
SEED
Farmers who are growing improved wheat
should take great care to keep the seed wheat
pure in order to continue the distribution of the
good seed and to maintain the yield and quality
of the grain grown on their own farms. One of
the principal factors which causes deterioration
in wheat is the crossing or mixing of different
varieties or strains. Common sources of mixing
are from volunteer wheat which occurs when
fields are reseeded to wheat year after year; or
mixing may occur in the harvesting or threshing
where two or more varieties are grown on the
same farm or on neighboring farms. Careless
seedsmen and dealers also often allow the varieties
to become mixed in grading and handling, so that
under present conditions it is quite difficult to
maintain purity in seed grain.
COMMUNITY SEED
The breeding and introduction of pedigreed
strains will eventually lead to the establishment
and growing of one of the best producing, pure
bred varieties of each cereal grain in each com-
munity or in each locality or section with distinct
climatic or soil conditions. Thus there may be
established a " community seed" which will be
planted by all the farmers in that community.
This will be a great advantage over the present
practice of growing many varieties, some of which
are often poorly adapted to the local conditions.
WHEAT
37
Because of the mixture of types and varieties and
because of the want of uniformity in type and
quality, all of the grain sells on the market at a
relatively low price, fixed by the average quality
of the crop rather than by the best grain which the
locality produces. The general planting of a
"community seed" would reverse these conditions
and would result in larger yields and better prices
and a greater prosperity for every farmer. The
farmers in each community should get together
and organize and adopt a "community seed."
Fig. 5. — Roots of spring wheat grown under semi-arid con-
ditions at Edgeley, North Dakota. Length of roots, four feet.
38 WHEAT
CHAPTER IV
SOIL, CLIMATE AND CULTIVATION
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
Most of the wheat of the world grows in regions
with cold winters. California, Egypt and India
are exceptions. On the whole, however, wheat
has a very wide climatic range. It is grown suc-
cessfully in northern Russia and in the Canadian
northwest, and has matured even as far north as
Dawson, Alaska, 65° north latitude, about
two hundred miles from the Arctic circle. In
the direction of the equator we find the limits of
successful wheat culture between 20 and 25°
north and south latitude. Wheat, however, is
grown successfully on the mountain plains of
Columbia and Ecuador, at the equator 10,000
feet above sea level.
While wheat has a very wide geographical
range, it nevertheless demands a similar climatic
condition during its growing season, viz: A
moderately cool and dry temperature. This is
secured in the culture of the crop by the use of
winter and spring varieties, and by regulating
the time of seeding so that the period of growth
and maturity shall occur during the cooler part
of the growing season in the warmer climates.
SOIL REQUIREMENTS
Generally speaking, wheat requires a rather
heavy soil, inclining to clayey. The lighter or
sandy soils are not so well adapted for growing
WHEAT 39
wheat, however soft wheat succeeds well on
bottom lands of a loamy, light texture.
To produce the best quality of hard wheat
requires fertile soil, land well supplied with nitro-
gen and rich in the mineral elements of plant food.
The soil should be well balanced in fertility. If
there is an over-supply of nitrogen caused by
heavy manuring or by growing alfalfa or clover,
there is likely to be a rank growth of straw which
may lodge and the heads fail to fill, resulting in
light, shrunken grain.
A fertile soil which is well supplied with organic
matter and humus will produce a much larger
yield of wheat under similar conditions of culture
and rainfall than a less fertile soil or one lacking
in vegetable matter. The humus will take in
and hold more water, the organic matter acting
as a sponge to absorb and retain the moisture.
Also the fertile soil will supply a stronger solution
of plant food, thus producing a greater growth
with the same amount of water than an infertile
soil. Thus the fertilized soil has the advantage
in two ways: first, it absorbs and holds more
moisture and supplies it to the growing crop;
second, it makes better use of the soil water, the
plant requiring often 50% less water because of
its stronger solution of plant food than the soil
low in fertility and lacking in organic matter.
Therefore, it is necessary to rotate crops, grow
legumes and use manure and fertilizers to main-
tain and increase soil fertility, also to conserve soil
moisture by proper culture methods in order to
secure the largest yields of wheat. Moreover,
40
WHEAT
special care must be given to preparing the seed
and root bed in order to secure the proper soil
conditions and suitable environment in the soil
for germinating the seed and feeding the young
plants. •
THE SEED BED
The proper starting of a crop is an important
factor in its production. A germinating seed
requires the presence of moisture and air and a
Fig. 6. — A good seed-bed. A cross-section of the plowed por-
tion of a properly prepared seed-bed. The soil is mellow but
well settled, the furrow slice making a good connection with the
subsoil.
WHEAT 41
favorable degree of heat. The plantlet is nour-
ished at first by the food substance,, stored in the
mother seed, but this is soon used up and the
little roots quickly spread out in the prepared
soil to gather the moisture and available plant
food which may be found there. The young plant
grows and is soon well established if the soil is
fertile and the seed bed has been well prepared.
HOW PLANT FOOD IS MADE AVAILABLE
All fertile soils contain an abundant supply of
plant food elements, but the compounds in which
they exist are usually in an insoluble condition in
the soil, a provision of nature which prevents the
wasting of plant food, insures the permanency of
soil fertility and the continued productiveness of
the soil for ages, providing man does his part.
The plant food of the soil is gradually liberated
by the action t of weathering agents which cause
the rock particles to break down and disintegrate,
and is made available by the action of the soil
bacteria which assist in the processes of decay.
Thus chemical changes take place by which the
insoluble plant food is gradually changed into
soluble compounds, the elements of which become
available to the plants when absorbed by the
roots.
This "digestion" of the plant food in the soil
by which it is made available to plants, at least
so far as bacteria are concerned, is favored by the
same conditions which are essential for the
germination of seeds and the growth of plants, viz.,
the soil must be warm, moist and well aerated.
42
WHEAT
PROPER PHYSICAL CONDITION
The fertility of the soil is developed by proper
tillage. The physical condition of the soil is
nearly always more important than mere "rich-
ness." A finely divided, mellow soil is more pro-
ductive than a hard, lumpy one of the same chemi-
cal composition because it retains more moisture,
renders plant food more available and affords
a more congenial and comfortable place in which
the plants may grow.
Fig. 7. — A cloddy seed-bed, plowed too dry, resulting in a very
unfavorable condition.
WHEAT
43
Fig. 8. — A two-row lister with eight horses listing from eight
to nine inches deep, Hays, Kas., Experiment Station.
The seed bed for wheat and other small grains
should be mellow at the surface, but firm and well
settled below the depth at which the seed is
planted. This provides the best conditions for
supplying the moisture, air, and heat to the ger-
minating seed and young plants. Deep plowing or
deep listing should be encouraged, but it should
be timely so that the soil may settle and fill with
moisture; and such cultivation should be given
after plowing or listing to secure a favorable phys-
ical condition of the seed bed.
Plowing the land early, well in advance of
seeding is essential, especially in the dry farming
areas of the western plains. Early plowing com-
pared with late plowing has given largely in-
creased yields at the Oklahoma, Kansas and
Nebraska experiment stations. (See Tables III
and IV.)
44
WHEAT
FIRMING THE SEED BED
When land is allowed to lie for a considerable
period after plowing before the crop is planted,
the action of the rains and the necessary surface
cultivation usually pack and firm the soil to a
sufficient extent to make a good seed bed. The
use of the subsurface packer is most essential
on late spring plowing, when the purpose is to
plant at once after plowing. For sowing fall
wheat, the subsurface packer may be used to
advantage, if the plowing precedes the sowing by
a short interval. By setting the disks rather
straight and weighting the harrow, a disk harrow
may be used as a substitute for the subsurface
packer.
MAINTAIN SOIL MULCH— DESTROY WEEDS
It is essential that sufficient and proper cultiva-
tion be given to destroy weeds. This is more
Fig. 9. — The Campbell subsurface packer.
WHEAT 45
important than to maintain a soil mulch, since
weeds exhaust both the soil moisture and available
plant food. If a proper soil mulch is maintained,
however, the weeds will be kept in subjection.
It is advisable to weight or ride the common
harrow in order to cause it to stir the soil to a
sufficient depth and prevent the slicking effect
which is apt to result from light harrowing. A
smooth, finely pulverized surface produced by
continuous, light harrowing defeats the purpose
of the cultivation, since soil in such a condition
will shed heavy rains, causing a waste of the
water that should have been stored in the soil.
By rendering the surface too fine and compact an
unfavorable seed bed is produced and the proper
aeration of the soil is prevented. Thus during
the interval between crops it is often advisable
to use the lister or disk harrow in order to keep
the surface of the soil open and mellow.
CONSERVATION OF SOIL MOISTURE
In the more humid climates it is often necessary
to artificially drain the land in order to keep the
soil in proper physical condition and cause it to
produce profitable crops, but throughout the
great plains region the conservation of the soil
moisture is the first and most important problem
in successful farming.
The most essential part of soil moisture con-
servation, the most important factor in dry farm-
ing and the one which has been most greatly
neglected by our western farmers, is getting the
rain water into the ground and safely storing it
46
WHEAT
in the subsoil to be used by the growing crop. The
firming and pulverizing of the soil to restore
capillarity, and the proper cultivation to maintain
the soil mulch are each without avail, unless there
has been stored in the deeper soil a sufficient
amount of moisture to supply the growing crop
in times of drouth.
SOIL MULCH
The plan of producing a soil mulch to conserve
the moisture has been taught and more or less
successfully practiced for many years; but in
very dry years this method must fail because there
is no moisture stored in the soil to be conserved by
cultivation.
The moisture should be caught and stored at
all times of the year, but especially during the
Fig. 10. — Following the binder with a disk harrow to catch
and conserve moisture.
WHEAT 47
interval between harvesting and planting. The
plan should be, in the preparation of the seed bed,
to put the soil in the most favorable condition
to receive the rain and carry it downward into
the subsoil. This is provided by disking soon
after harvest or late in the fall, or early in the
spring. Deep plowing a long time before planting
leaves the soil mellow and rough, enlarges the
water reservoir, and favors the absorption of heavy
rains. But the best plan to store moisture, as
determined in part by experiments conducted
by the writer and the experience of a number of
western farmers, is the method of listing the soil
in deep furrows and high ridges soon after harvest
or in the fall after the crops of corn or kafir have
been cut and removed. If this work cannot be
accomplished in the fall, winter listing or early
spring listing is desirable on such lands as shall
again be planted to intertilled crops or which may
be summer fallowed in preparation for fall wheat.
THE LISTING METHOD FOR WHEAT SEED BED
In preparing the land for winter wheat list
the ground with the ordinary corn lister as soon
after harvest as possible. The listed furrows
are run about three and one-half feet apart,
very much the same as when the lister is used
for planting corn. Later, when the weeds have
started, the soil is worked back into the listed
furrows by means of the harrow or disk cultivator.
Several cultivations are usually required with a
spike tooth harrow or disk in order to level the
field and bring it into good seed bed condition.
48
WHEAT
Fig. 11. — Disk lister cultivator used for filling listed furrows.
Once over with the disk cultivator is sufficient
to fill the furrows, the further work necessary to
prepare the seed bed being given with a common
harrow.
In preparing the ground for spring wheat, the
listing should be done soon after harvest and the
soil worked back into the furrows again before
the ground freezes. Thus it may settle and firm
up during the winter, when by harrowing or
shallow disking in the spring the seed bed may be
put into favorable condition for planting. On
land which is inclined to drift in heavy winds it
is better not to level the ridges until spring as
the furrowed soil will resist blowing.
WHEAT 49
ADVANTAGE OF LISTING METHOD
In a dry climate this method of preparing the
seed bed for wheat has several advantages. The
cultivation of the land soon after harvest tends
to conserve the moisture already in the soil,
the furrows catch and store the rain and the later
cultivation clears the land of weeds and volunteer
wheat and leaves a mellow soil mulch to conserve
the moisture which has been stored in the subsoil.
The early and continuous cultivation of the soil
favors the action of the soil bacteria and the
development of available plant food. Also,
because of the furrowed surface, a larger volume
of soil is exposed to the action of bacteria.
By pursuing this method the farmer may cul-
tivate a larger area when the soil is in good con-
dition to cultivate, since listing is done more
rapidly than plowing. Soil which is opened out
in listed furrows is in the best possible condition
to catch and store the rain, which as it falls soon
reaches the bottom of the furrow and is rapidly
absorbed directly into the subsoil without having
to pass through six or eight inches of finely
pulverized compact surface soil. Also the ridges
may be cultivated soon after a heavy rain, thus
covering the wet furrows with mellow soil and
"sealing" the reservoir and preventing the escape
of the stored moisture.
SUMMER TILLING
The listing method is also adapted to summer
fallowing (summer tilling), the plan being to keep
the surface furrowed and in a mellow condition
4
50
WHEAT
to receive and store as much of the rain as
possible in the fall, winter and early spring.
Later in the summer, the land may be leveled,
plowed and worked back into a firm, well pul-
verized seed bed, suitable for sowing winter wheat.
In preparing a fallow for seeding spring wheat,
the furrowed condition should be continued
until late summer or early fall. The listing method
Fig. 12. — Late fall cultivation of summer fallow with twelve
shovel, two-row corn cultivator to conserve moisture and pre-
vent drifting.
WHEAT
51
is best adapted to fairly level land but it may be
used successfully on a sloping field by running
the furrows across the slope. Or in the case of
a field sloping in different directions, it is possible
to practice "contour" listing, viz., listing around
the hill, making the furrows always at right
angles with the slope. Thus the rain which falls
on the field will be caught in the furrows and led
straight downward into the soil, rather than down
the slope by surface drainage.
Experiments in preparing the seed bed for
winter wheat, when wheat was grown each season,
compared with late plowing, early plowing, early
listing and summer fallowing, were carried on for
six consecutive years (1906 to 1912) at the Hays
branch experiment station in western Kansas.
The crop of 1909 was entirely destroyed by hail.
The average yield of five crops by the several
methods is given in the following table.
TABLE III
Giving yield of wheat for five years, 1906 to
1912, and percentage of moisture in soil at seeding
time for 1911 and 1912, Fort Hays branch experi-
ment station, western Kansas.
Method of Prepara-
tion
Yield
per Acre
Total in
Five
Years
Average
Yield
Moisture
in 6 Feet
of Soil at
Seeding
Time
Average
Differ-
ence in
Yield
Late plowed, Sept. . . .
Early plowed, July. . .
Early listed, July
Summer fallowed ....
Bushels
59.9
83.3
104.4
58.9
Bushels
12.0
16.7
20.9
11.8
Percent
13.7
15.6
16.4
19.8
Bushels
—4.7*
check
4.2
—4.9*
*Decrease in yield.
52 WHEAT
The land prepared by the listing method
yielded 21.1 bushels more wheat per acre in the
five years than the land which was plowed early
and otherwise given approved treatment. Late
plowing yielded 23.4 bushels less than early plow-
ing and 44.5 bushels less than early listing. The
fallowed area (cropped alternate years) gave 24.4
bushels less grain per acre in five years than con-
tinuous cropping with early plowing, and 45.5
bushels less than continuous cropping with early
listing. These results are not favorable to alter-
nate summer fallowing, and indicate that a less
frequent fallow would pay better.
In Table IV are compared the yields secured
at the Oklahoma experiment station by plowing
at different dates in preparing the seed bed for
fall wheat.
TABLE IV
Date of plowing test in preparing seed bed for
wheat, Oklahoma experiment station (Bulletin
No. 65).
Preparation Date of Plowing Yield per Acre
Early July 19 31.3 bushels
Medium Aug. 15 28.5 bushels
Late.. ..Sept. 11 15.3 bushels
THE SUMMER FALLOW
In regions where the rainfall is not sufficient
to produce a paying crop each year by continuous
cropping, the system of summer fallowing with
"summer tillage " (keeping the soil mellow and
free from weeds) should be practiced every three
WHEAT
53
or four years or in alternate years, if this is neces-
sary, in order to store a sufficient supply of mois-
ture in the soil to insure a profitable crop when
wheat is planted. The cultivation of the fallow
not only conserves the soil moisture and clears
the land of weeds but also favors the development
of the fertility of the soil, so that a larger amount
of plant food may become available to the crop
following the fallow.
METHODS OF FALLOWING
There are several methods of summer fallowing
practiced in the several states, but the method
which has given uniformly good results at the
Montana, Nebraska and Kansas experiment sta-
tions is to plow deep, six to eight inches, rather
late in the spring, and then give sufficient cultiva-
Fig. 13. — Listing the soil to prevent drifting and to conserve
moisture on summer tilled land.
54
WHEAT
Fig. 14. — Soil that has been listed in the best possible condition
to catch the rainfall.
tion thereafter to maintain a soil mulch and de-
stroy weeds. Such treatment puts the soil in
ideal condition for seeding in the fall or spring,
but the continuous cultivation leaves the surface
soil finely pulverized and smooth, which favors
soil washing with heavy rains and soil drifting
in strong winds. Some practice plowing twice,
rather shallow in the spring and deeper the second
time about midsummer, giving surface cultiva-
tion after the second plowing sufficient to prepare
a good seed bed.
Summer tillage may exhaust the plant food
of the soil faster than continuous cropping, since
WHEAT 55
there is apt to be a waste of the soluble plant food
elements by wind and drainage. On account of
these facts summer tillage should not be generally
practiced except in regions of very light rainfall
and in the western plains region, which is sub-
ject to very strong winds, only in the heavier
soils or more protected locations.
The listing method of summer fallowing has
not yet been tested in comparative trials at the
experiment stations, but wherever there is danger
of damage by soil drifting, the listing method,
as described above, should be preferred to plow-
ing and harrowing.
TO PREVENT SOIL DRIFTING
How to prevent soil drifting has become a very
serious problem to the western farmer during the
last few years. The breaking of the prairie sod,
the pulverizing of the soil by tillage, the dry
seasons, and continuous cropping have made the
surface soil finer and looser, which conditions
favor soil blowing in the heavy winds which are
characteristic of the western plains.
The rotation of crops and seeding a part of the
land again to grass, together with the planting
of shelter belts and wind breaks, will be some of the
permanent means employed to solve this problem.
Meanwhile it is possible to temporarily prevent
soil drifting by practicing proper culture methods
and by protecting the surface with a dressing of
straw or manure pressed into the soil with a
packer or a disk harrow.
56 WHEAT
SPREADING STRAW AND PACKING
The writer prevented the soil from blowing on
an eighty acre wheat field at the Fort Hays experi-
ment station in western Kansas in the spring of
1911, by spreading straw over the field during the
winter and packing it into the soil early in the
spring with a subsurface packer. The packer
pressed the straw into the ground causing it to
stand partly on end. This kept the straw from
blowing away and served as a protection to the
ground, which entirely prevented the soil from
drifting on this field in the very severe wind storm
of March 26 of that year, notwithstanding the
fact that this field was not well covered by the
growing wheat which had made little growth in
the fall and was therefore inclined to blow. Other
fields on the experiment station farm which were
not protected with straw did blow badly.
During the storm referred to, the effect of the
straw as a barrier to stop the drifting soil was
shown in another field of 160 acres of wheat. In
this field, straw had been spread in a narrow strip
five or six rods -wide, extending east and west
across the field, and had been packed into the
soil with the subsurface packer. The north side
of the field started to blow and the loose soil
was swept south, taking nearly the whole field
north of the straw-covered area, but here the
drifting soil lodged in the straw and did little harm
to the wheat south of this barrier. The subsurface
packing alone without the dressing of straw cross-
wise of the drill rows early in the spring also had
WHEAT 57
Fig. 15. — The Dunham sub-surface packer.
a beneficial effect and aided in preventing soil
drifting.
SHALLOW FURROW CULTIVATION
On the same farm in the spring of 1912, I
stopped the soil from drifting on a newly seeded
alfalfa field 120 acres in area, by cultivating the
drifting area with a twelve shovel two-row corn
cultivator, cultivating across the wind, beginning
on the side towards the wind. The drifting was
stopped early in the day, with a loss of about
seven acres of alfalfa, whereas if nothing had been
done to check it, the drifting would have extended
over the larger part of the field during the day.
The middle shovel of each gang of three in the
cultivator was removed. This left the soil in
furrows and ridges.
By the same method I have protected the sur-
face of a bare summer fallow by running shallow
furrows east and west across the field. One
hundred-eighty acres cultivated in this way late
in the fall of 1911 did not drift during the winter
and was put into good condition for seeding
alfalfa the next spring by a single cross harrowing.
The shallow furrows did not loosen the seed bed
too deeply.
58
WHEAT
DEEP FURROWS WITH LISTER
The best culture method to prevent soil drifting
on open, bare fields is to list the soil into deep
furrows and high ridges, preferably running east
and west, with the lister or double mold-board
plow. This condition offers almost complete
protection from soil drifting. The soil should be
listed when it is not too dry and loose. Even
when the soil is drifting on a field, it may be
stopped by listing, unless it is very loose and
sandy, by starting the lister on the side towards
the wind. In the fall of 1911, nearly 600 acres
were listed on the Hays experiment station farm,
including all corn and kafir stubble fields and all
land which was to be summer fallowed or planted
to intertilled crops in 1911. The results were so
favorable that the same plan was continued in
the fall of 1912.
Fig. 16. — Shallow furrows do not loosen the seed-bed too
deeply.
WHEAT 59
CHAPTER V
WHEAT SEEDING AND CULTIVATION
Spring wheat should be sown as early in the
spring as the soil can be put into favorable seed
bed condition. It is preferable to risk damage by
spring frosts in order to start the wheat early and
thus hasten its maturing, in order that the crop
may escape rust and unfavorable weather con-
ditions which are likely to damage the grain
near harvest time.
It is difficult to name any best date for sowing
fall wheat, because this will vary greatly for
different sections of the country, and in different
seasons even in the same locality. In the more
northern areas of the winter wheat belt early
seeding is usually desirable in order that the wheat
may make a good start and a good cover in the
fall, to afford winter protection. In the warmer
climates rather late seeding is often preferred
because a too rank growth from early seeding is
more apt to smother during the winter. Also the
early seedings are liable to attack by the Hessian
fly which appears early in the fall and lays its
eggs on the early sown wheat. When it is neces-
sary to sow rather late, special care should be
taken to have the seed bed in ideal condition to
start the wheat quickly, since young, weak plants
are more likely to winter kill, and the lack of
cover exposes the crop to damage by wind and
drifting soil.
60 WHEAT
METHODS OF SEEDING
When possible always sow wheat with a good
drill. Drilling requires less seed than broadcasting
because the seeds are more evenly distributed
and more evenly covered, thus giving a more
uniform germination. Drilled wheat is less likely
to winter-kill because of the stronger plants, and
there is a slight protection afforded by the shallow
furrows. Many comparative tests at several
experiment stations have given increased yields
from drilling from two to ten bushels per acre.
In the spring wheat states, wheat follows corn
with good results when the seed bed may be well
and cheaply prepared simply by disking and har-
rowing. Winter wheat may follow early potatoes,
or other early maturing intertilled crops which
have been well cultivated, without plowing. Also,
it is common practice in Kansas and states farther
south to drill wheat with a one-horse drill in
standing corn.
When wheat follows wheat or other small grain,
while the general practice is to plow or list the
stubble land soon after harvest and prepare the
seed bed by giving the necessary surface cultiva-
tion, yet in parts of western Kansas and Nebraska
many farmers disk in preparing the wheat seed
bed without plowing, and much wheat is simply
"stubbled in," or drilled in the stubble without
any cultivation previous to sowing. This is a
careless method, and yet where the soil drifts
badly it seems advisable to practice it sometimes
and not plow every year.
WHEAT 61
GRAIN DRILLS
For general use the writer prefers a good single
disk drill. They are the best trash riders, but in
well prepared soil the double disk drill and shoe
drill may do the better work, being more readily
adjusted to plant the seed at a uniform depth.
The press drill is often preferred for use in the
lighter soils and drier climate. The better the
preparation of the seed bed and the greater the
storage of moisture in the subsoil, the less neces-
sary the press wheels, and if the soil is wet and
sticky and apt to roll on the wheels or crust, better
work may be done with chain coverers than with
the press wheels. It is an advantage to have the
drill equipped with both chains and press wheels
and use whichever will give the best results.
There is an unquestionable advantage in plant-
ing corn in deep listed furrows in a dry climate,
and there may be a similar advantage in planting
wheat in shallow listed furrows, a little deeper
than the furrows made by the ordinary drill.
Listing drills are now being manufactured and
are used to a limited extent. The writer is not
familiar with the results of their use but would
recommend them for trial. In dry farming areas
which are not likely to receive heavy rains after
sowing, and where the soil is light and inclined to
blow, seeding with a listing drill should give an
advantage over the ordinary method.
THICKNESS OF SEEDING
It is usual to sow wheat in drills six inches
apart. However in the dry climates a greater
62 WHEAT
space between drills, seven to eight inches, and
even wider space is often preferred. The practice
of planting wheat in rows in semi-arid areas,
eighteen to twenty-four inches apart, and cul-
tivating the crop has not given profitable results.
There is a disadvantage in planting the drills too
far apart because the wide spaces allow the growth
of weeds and the wheat does not make so good a
covering in its early growth, favoring soil drifting
in windy climates. The proper thickness of stand
should be secured by planting the seed thinner
in the drill rows rather than to make the space
between drills wider than six or seven inches.
Comparative tests have usually favored planting
in the closer drills. The amount of seed required
to sow an acre varies from two to three pecks
in the dry farming area to six to eight pecks in
the more humid climates.
DEPTH OF SEEDING
Wheat should not be covered too deeply. A
usual depth of drilling is two to three inches. To
Fig. 17. — Drilling in wheat with a tractor.
WHEAT 63
secure ideal conditions for germination the seed
should be deposited in the bottom of the drill
furrow or against the firm soil which will supply
moisture to swell and sprout the seed and give
a favorable environment for the young roots.
Thus the surface of the seed bed should not be
loosened too deeply or too near seeding time.
If the surface is loose and dry and there is
moisture beneath, it may be better to deposit
the seed against the firm soil even at a depth of
four or five inches rather than to deposit it near
the surface of the loose, ashy bed where it will be
entirely dependent upon rain to sprout and grow.
In a wet season shallow seeding in a deep, loose
seed bed may give good results, but it is better
to prepare a proper seed bed.
WINTER KILLING
Winter killing of wheat occurs frequently
throughout the northern and middle portions of
the winter wheat belt, and is often a source of
great loss and inconvenience. Wheat winter
kills in several ways:
1. It may not be hardy enough to withstand
the extreme cold of severe winter weather.
2. Late sown wheat or weak plants may die
for lack of moisture in a dry, open winter. Even
a good stand of wheat may be destroyed by such
unfavorable conditions, especially if planted in a
loose seed bed which was not well stored with
moisture.
3. The grain may smother under a covering
of ice or closely packed, icy snow. A heavy fall
64
WHEAT
growth from early seeding is more apt to smother
than later sown wheat or wheat which has been
fall pastured.
4. The most common kind of winter killing
is caused by soil heaving, due to the alternate
freezing and thawing of very wet soils, which
gradually lifts the plants, exposes the roots and
finally raising the plants entirely clear of the soil,
breaks the roots completely destroying the crop.
Such winter killing is more likely to occur on poorly
drained, heavy, sticky soils that remain wet at
the surface than on soils of a more sandy or loamy
character. Soil heaving is most likely to occur
late in the winter or early in the spring, but it
may occur earlier in the winter, during a period of
open weather when thejsurface soil is wet.
Fig. 18. — A successful cement, home-made roller.
WHEAT 65
MEASURES TO PREVENT WINTER KILLING
Very little can be done to prevent winter killing
when the unfavorable conditions are present, but
there is more or less tendency to winter killing
that may be, in a measure, prevented by making
the growing conditions for the wheat as favorable
as possible. Naturally wet land should be drained.
A well pulverized, well settled seed bed may not
heave so much as a loose seed bed and the wheat
will not "freeze out" or dry out so quickly in a
firm soil, hence careful preparation of the seed
bed is a partial preventive. Other preventive
measures are medium sowing (not too late or too
early), pasturing a rank fall growth, and providing
wind breaks or shelter belts to break the wind
and catch the snow. Wheat seldom winter kills
if it has a good covering of snow all winter.
Rolling the wheat early in the spring to firm the
soil about the roots will often give much benefit
if the heaving has not progressed too far.
Some varieties of winter wheat are much hardier
than others to resist winter killing, as shown by
the trials at our state experiment stations, and
only such should be sown, Avoid bringing seed
wheat from the south for seeding in northern
sections, since it will usually prove less hardy
than northern grown seed.
CULTIVATION AFTER SEEDING
The proper preparation of the seed bed is a
much more important factor in the growing of
small grains than the cultivation after seeding.
5
66
WHEAT
It is seldom necessary to cultivate the wheat
seed bed after seeding. The necessary cultivation
to cover the seed should be given the broadcasted
field. In the growing of wheat the preparation
of a favorable seed bed should leave the soil mellow
at the surface. There are usually no heavy
showers in the fall after the wheat is sown or
early in the spring, the wheat grows rapidly, and
by stooling soon covers the ground and protects
the soil from beating rains. Thus wheat needs
less cultivation after planting to maintain the soil
mulch than is required by corn or other intertilled
crops.
After the wheat is up several inches and begin-
ning to stool it may sometimes be harrowed
with a light harrow or "weeder" to break a crust
Fig. 19. — With a gang of harrows one man can cover eighty
acres a'day.
WHEAT 67
formed by heavy rains, but care should be taken
not to loosen the soil too deeply so as to disturb
or loosen the roots of the plants. The harrowing
of young grain by covering the slender blades,
may injure the stand.
The results of experiment station trials in har-
rowing wheat have not always been favorable.
Winter wheat may often be rolled in the spring
with advantage when there is much heaving of
soil, in order to pack the soil about the roots.
Rolling winter wheat in the spring at the Nebraska
experiment station (Lincoln) increased the yield of
grain five bushels per acre as an average for five
years. In a windy climate it is dangerous to roll
wheat as the smooth, pulverized surface soil left by
rolling will drift, and destroy the crop and waste
the soil. The writer has used the subsurface
packer in place of the roller at the Fort Hays
experiment station in Kansas with good results.
The subsurface packer presses the soil about the
wheat roots and leaves the surface slightly fur-
rowed, which tends to resist soil drifting.
PASTURING WHEAT
It is a common practice to pasture winter wheat,
and when done judiciously there may be no reduc-
tion in yield. In fact, aside from the pasturage
value which is estimated at from fifty cents to
two dollars per acre, there may result an actual
benefit to the crop from pasturing a rank growth
of wheat on fertile soil. The grazing reduces the
straw growth and may prevent winter smothering
as well as lodging and blighting. The firming of
WHEAT
Fig. 20.— Summer-tilled wheat field, North Platte, Nebr. sub-
station. Yield, sixty-seven bushels per acre.
the soil by the tramping of livestock may also
prove an advantage on light land, or on a seed
bed which was not well settled before seeding.
A weak growth of wheat should not usually be
pastured since the grazing will tend to reduce the
vitality of the grain still more and result in a
decreased yield.
Wheat may be pastured in the fall and early
spring when the soil is not too wet or too dry.
Very dry soil becomes pulverized and dusty by
the tramping of stock, and soil drifting results.
The tramping of very wet soil causes it to "poach "
and puddle and the stand of wheat is likely to be
injured. Too late pasturing in the spring retards
the growth of the wheat and reduces the yield.
At the Kansas experiment station, pasturing
wheat on land of average fertility decreased the
WHEAT
69
yield three bushels per acre as an average for
several trials.
SPRING MOWING
When it cannot be pastured, mowing a very
rank growth of wheat on fertile soil, early in the
spring before it begins to shoot, will reduce the
foliage growth and may prevent lodging and result
in an increased yield. The writer has practiced
this method with good results at the Kansas
experiment station. If the growth is not too
heavy, it may be left on the ground or the green
wheat gathered for ensilage.
70 WHEAT
CHAPTER VI
HARVEST AND YIELD
THE AVERAGE YIELD
Because of the relatively high price of the grain
and the relatively low cost of production a good
field of wheat is one of the best paying of farm
crops. The yields are sometimes very large. The
writer has produced a yield of sixty bushels of
Turkey wheat per acre at the Kansas experiment
station, not only in small plots but in a large
field. Even larger yields have been reported in
Kansas and in the Palouse country in Oregon,
where yields of seventy bushels per acre have been
secured. Yet in spite of the great producing
capacity of wheat under favorable conditions, the
average yield in the United States is less than
fourteen bushels per acre. Compare this with the
average yields of wheat for the last decade in
several European countries — Germany twenty-
nine bushels, Great Britain thirty-three bushels
and Denmark forty bushels per acre, and we will
see that the yields in the United States may be
and should be greatly increased.
The low average yield of wheat in the United
States is due to two primary causes — poor farming
and damage to the crops by the elements. Much
wheat is very carelessly planted. The farmer is
continuously up against the problems of a decreas-
ing soil fertility and a consequently decreasing
£
72 WHEAT
productivity. The wheat crop is very susceptible
to injury from unfavorable weather conditions
at almost every stage in its growth. Dry weather
at seeding time may cause a thin stand, or the
grain may blow out or winter kill or be injured
by drouth and hot winds almost up to the ma-
turity stage; or it may be damaged by hail or
lodged by storms and wind either before or after
maturing, and even after harvesting it is liable
to be damaged by wetting in the shock, causing
bleaching and sprouting, thus reducing the yield
and injuring the quality of the grain.
DATE AND METHOD OF HARVESTING
The wheat harvest of the United States begins
in Texas in May and ends in North Dakota in
August. In California the harvest begins about
June first and continues nearly two months. East
of the great plains, wheat is cut as soon as it is
ripe or a little before, the harvest extending us-
ually over a period of only a week or two weeks
on a single farm. The grain is bound into bundles
with a self binder, and placed in small shocks in
the field; and later when it is dry enough it is
hauled directly to the thresher, or more often put
into stacks or barns and threshed later.
THE HEADER
In the western plains the common method of
harvesting is with the header. The wheat is
allowed to stand until fully ripe, when the heading
begins and the headed grain is loaded loosely
into barges and hauled directly to the stacks,
WHEAT
Fig. 22. — Harvesting wheat with a header in western
Kansas.
which are arranged in regular groups or "settings"
of two to four stacks, usually ten acres to a
"setting." In the western states the harvest
may continue for a month or six weeks on a single
farm . This method of harvesting is rapid and econ-
omical and is well adapted to a dry climate, but often
the over-ripe wheat shatters and is damaged by
storms and deteriorates in quality. In the eastern
part of the dry farming belt the binder and the
header are often both used on the same farm,
thus making it possible to harvest more of the
grain in prime condition.
THE COMBINE
On the Pacific coast where there is no danger
from rains, the harvest lasts for several weeks
or months, and the wheat does not usually deter-
74 WHEAT
iorate in quality in the field. It is sometimes dam-
aged by sand storms. The club or square head
wheat is the type generally grown, and its
short straw and tight glumes prevent lodging
and shattering. On the great wheat fields of
California and Oregon the "combine" is used,
which harvests and threshes the wheat at a single
operation, the grain being sacked and left in long
trains in the field or later placed in large piles,
from which it is hauled and loaded directly onto the
cars for shipping. The relative harvesting capa-
city of the different machines and methods may
be compared as follows:
Width of Swath Harvesting Capacity
Machine in Feet per Day in Acres
Binder 5 to 8 10 to 20
Header 8 to 14 20 to 30
Horse combine. .. 16 to 20 25 to 45
Steam combine. . . 24 to 42 . . . . 75 to 125
The average price of a steam "combine" outfit
is $7,500.00. They are used almost exclusively
on the Pacific coast, and only on the larger farms
containing from 3,000 to 20,000 acres of land.
The horse "combine" is most advantageously
used on the smaller farms having less than 3,000
acres.
BEST STATE OF MATURITY TO HARVEST
Wheat makes the largest yield and best quality
of grain if harvested with the binder when it is
just about fully ripe when the straw has mostly
turned yellow and the grains are quite hard or
in the hard dough stage. Wheat cut immature
WHEAT . . 75
is apt to become shrunken, making a decreased
yield and lighter weight per bushel, and it is less
strong in vitality than plump wheat; but by
careful grading it will usually make good seed,
and if not too light, may make good flour. It is
a good practice in humid regions to begin harvest-
ing before the grain is fully ripe because as soon
as the wheat is over-ripe it may be injured by
storms and by rain which may lodge the grain
or bleach it and cause it to deteriorate in quality
and vitality, and the yield is likely to be reduced
by shattering. In cutting with the header it is
necessary to wait until the grain is dry enough
to stack without danger of heating and spoiling.
The binder may often be started a week or ten
days before the header.
SHOCKING
Perhaps more wheat is injured in quality after
harvest by unfavorable weather and careless
handling than from any other cause. Some
farmers are not only careless but absolutely
neglectful in this respect. If the wheat is cut a
little green, prompt shocking facilitates the com-
pletion of the ripening process, favoring the trans-
fer of the material from the straw to the grain,
which prevents shrinkage; also the sheaves may
be set up in better shocks if the straw is not al-
lowed to become too dry and fluffy and brittle.
Whether to cap shocks or leave them uncapped
is a question. Unless wheat is well set up and
the shocks carefully capped, the caps are apt to
blow off and the grain will then become more
76 WHEAT
exposed than if the bundles were originally set
in open shocks. The writer prefers to carefully
shock and cap in humid climates rather than to
set in long shocks or round shocks without caps.
It may be necessary to go over the field after a
wind storm and replace the caps that have blown
off.
KINDS OF SHOCKS
Long shocks are made by placing pairs of
sheaves in a row, about twelve bundles in a shock,
setting them down firmly and not too sloping, a
pair at a time, and bracing the bundles against
each other. Place the pairs alternating at each
end to keep the shock plumb and regular. The
outer pairs of bundles should slope slightly
towards the inner pairs in order to brace the
shock. A round shock with caps should contain
from twelve to sixteen bundles. The writer pre-
fers rather large round shocks if the grain is not
too green, as they stand better. In building a
round shock of sixteen bundles, place four pairs
in a row, then place three bundles on each side
and cap with two bundles. After the tops of the
sheaves have been drawn somewhat together lay
one bundle on the top of the shock at right angles
to the prevailing winds, then break the second
cap sheaf at the band, and spreading the ends
fan-shape lay it cross-wise of the first cap with
the tops towards the prevailing wind.
Both for efficiency and economy of time two
bundles should be handled at once. Shocking is
a man's job. There is a knack about it that may
WHEAT 77
be easily learned by practice, but the average
hired harvest hand is usually a poor shocker. In
windy, dry climates as in our western plains,
where storms may be severe but with no great
amount of rain, it may be advisable to build a
round shock without caps something after the
manner of a miniature stack. Lay one bundle
on the ground and break the top back to keep the
heads off the ground; set two others over this
one at right angles, with heads crossing. Now
fill in the angles with other bundles thus thatching
the shock and bringing the top of the last bundle
over the heads of the others until nine to thirteen
bundles have been placed in the shock. The bun-
dles should all stand quite sloping. Such a shock
will shed rain well and will not blow over.
STACKING
In parts of our wheat growing areas, bundle
stacking is almost a lost art because of the present
day practice of threshing out of the shock. In
the writer's judgment, this is a mistake. There
may not be any economy in stacking if the thresh-
ing can be done early and as soon as the grain
is dry enough, but this is not usually the case.
Many farmers are obliged to leave their grain in
the field for several weeks or months, until the
thresher can make the rounds of several other
farms, and if unfavorable weather intervenes the
grain may be badly damaged; while, if such grain
could be stacked in well made stacks just when
it is in prime condition, it would mean a great
saving of grain and the extra labor would be
78 WHEAT
a profitable investment for the farmer. On the
other hand, grain that is carelessly stacked may
be badly damaged by heavy rains wetting the
stacks; but if the stacks are well and properly
made such damage should not occur.
HOW TO BEGIN A STACK
In starting a bundle stack, whether round or
elongated, the bundles should be set up in the
form of a large shock beginning at the middle of
the stack and setting the bundles in regular order
until the confines of the stack are reached, about
ten feet in diameter for a round stack and ten
feet wide for a rick. Then beginning at the edge,
lay a double tier of bundles around the whole
stack, the butts of the first row reaching the
ground, with the butts of the second row just
flush with the butts of the first row. Now lay
a single row with the butts reaching a little past
the bands of the first row, and continue this
method, laying row after row around the stack
until the center is reached. The rows of bundles
may be lapped a little more toward the middle
of the stack in order to keep the middle full,
always having a good slope towards the edge of
the stack. Starting again at the edge of the stack
lay the first row of bundles with the butts flush
with the original first row or extending a trifle,
and then work toward the middle of the stack
as before.
HOW TO BUILD AND COMPLETE A STACK
At the third round, extend the butts of the
WHEAT 79
outside row a few inches beyond the butts of the
row beneath, and continue thus as succeeding
tiers and rows are placed, "laying out the stack,"
always keeping the middle full, until the stack is
seven or eight feet high. This forms the bulge.
Now begin to draw in the outside rows a few inches
at each round, thus finally bringing the stack to a
narrow top made by the lapping of the last rows
of bundles which should be tied down by driving
sharpened sticks four to five feet into the top of
the stack. The bulge should extend two to three
feet beyond the base, which will make a stack
with a ten foot base, fourteen to sixteen feet wide
at the bulge. Do not tramp the outside rows of
bundles. Pitch from both sides of the stack if
possible. Each successive tier of bundles should
thatch the preceding one, much the same as the
shingles on a roof. Take considerable care as
regards thatching above the bulge. By proper
stacking, the grain below the bulge should be
entirely protected from wetting.
Fig. 24. — A good job of stacking.
80 WHEAT
THE SECRET OF GOOD STACKING
The secret of good stacking is to keep the
middle full so that when the stack settles the
bundles will slope towards the butts and towards
the outside of the stack. Also the stack must be
built plumb and regular. It is a job which requires
some practice and considerable care, and a good
stacker may well command an extra wage for
such work.
In stacking loose grain from the header, the
same principle holds that the middle of the stack
must be kept full and well tramped. The sides
of the stack should be raked to remove the loose
straw, and hangers should be placed as soon as the
stack is completed to prevent the wind blowing
off the top which is likely to occur in the first
storm unless the top is tied down.
>' < , $ . .\ .""'
WHEAT 81
CHAPTER VII
THRESHING AND MARKETING
Threshing directly from the shock is perhaps
the best and most economical method, if the
threshing can be done early, as soon as the grain
is dry and in good condition. Grain threshed from
the shock will go through the sweat in the bin,
but unless threshed damp it will not heat enough
to injure the quality of the grain; in fact, a little
heating may be desirable as it will give the grain
a darker, richer color. When the grain is stacked
it should be allowed to go through the sweat
before threshing. If threshed and put into a dry
bin it may not sweat, since the sweating process
requires that grain contain some excess moisture.
Sweating may not be necessary for producing
a good quality of grain, but it is desirable that
wheat contain enough moisture when it is stacked
or threshed to cause it to sweat; otherwise it will
handle badly, shattering during the stacking or
cracking during the threshing. Do not stack or
thresh when the grain is too damp, since such
grain may heat too much or become stack-burned
or bin-burned and thus injured in quality and
value, while its vitality for seed may be entirely
destroyed. Also there may be considerable loss
in threshing too damp or too tough grain, since
all the grain may not be removed from the straw.
MARKETING
Much grain is now hauled directly to the ele-
vator from the threshing machine and sold or
6
82 WHEAT
stored for future sale. If the price is relatively
high at threshing time it is usually advisable to sell
at once. Often the price is high when threshing
first begins but decreases as the supply of grain
increases. The present tendency of rushing the
grain to market at threshing time often results
in glutting the market and lowering the price
below normal ; and also the railroads and elevators
are unable to handle the large quantities of grain
properly. It would be better if more grain were
stored in good bins on the farms and hauled to the
market at an opportune time. This plan would
tend to keep the market more steady and allow
for the grain to be handled in better condition
and more economically.
SHRINKAGE AND STORAGE
The shrinkage of dry wheat, as threshed and
placed in the bin, is very small and will seldom
amount to 2%. One percent is an average shrink-
age for six months, and after the first loss of excess
moisture, the grain should not decrease in weight
even by longer storing, except as it may be in-
jured by insect or animal pests. In the warmer
climates, grain stored for several months is likely
to be attacked by weevil and often severely
damaged. Hence as a rule it is not advisable to
hold wheat over during the summer in Kansas
and states farther south, unless due precaution
is taken to prevent weevil damage.
The farmer should take into consideration the
cost of storage in making his decision whether to
sell or not at threshing time. This cost, including
WHEAT
83
84 WHEAT
the storage charges, the natural shrinkage in
weight, the insurance against loss by fire and cy-
clone, the interest on the money represented by
the value of the wheat and the extra cost of
handling the grain, may amount to from five to
ten cents per bushel depending on the length of
time of storage. Thus eighty to eighty-five cents
per bushel at threshing time may be better than
ninety cents six months later.
THE PRICE OF WHEAT
The market price of wheat is normally deter-
mined by the world's conditions of supply and
demand. The United States produces more wheat
than is required for local consumption, therefore
the price is fixed by the country which buys the
export, but such price should under normal con-
ditions be higher than the surplus producing
country could fix for itself. Hence the export
price is a benefit to the wheat grower.
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
It is true that with a large, visible supply of
wheat in a certain section the tendency is to
depress the local price at threshing time when the
bulk of the crop is sold, but this is a " trick of the
trade " on the part of the buyers, due in part to
the congested condition and the impression
which the farmer receives that the supply is
greater than the demand. The true market price
of wheat is always established by the world's
supply and not by the crop of any one state or
locality.
WHEAT 85
Under the present conditions of trade by in-
dividuals or corporations, the local price of wheat
depends largely on competition. For example,
two cents less per bushel was paid for wheat at
a non-competitive point in North Dakota than
at competitive points only six miles distant. When
the local elevator systems combine, the only effec-
tive remedy is for the farmers to combine and
start independent elevators, and secure the aid
of the law if necessary to get their wheat shipped
to the primary markets. The matter of marketing
and securing the highest market price is an im-
portant part of the wheat raising business, and
will receive much more attention and considera-
tion in the future than it has in the past.
COMMERCIAL GRADING OF WHEAT
The value of wheat varies with its quality and
with the purpose for which it is to be used. The
principal characteristics which aid in fixing the
grade are weight per bushel, plumpness, soundness,
color, and freedom from smut, foreign matter and
from mixture- with a different type of wheat.
Since gradations are continuous, it is difficult to
draw the line, hence grading requirements are
not very definite and are often largely a matter
of judgment by the grain inspector. The com-
mercial classes vary somewhat in the different
markets. The general classes on the Chicago
market are: White Winter Wheat, Red Winter
Wheat, Hard Winter Wheat, Northern Spring
Wheat, Spring Wheat, White Spring Wheat and
Colorado Wheat. Each class has from two to
86 WHEAT
four regular grades, and wheat may be of such
poor quality as to be graded "rejected" or "no
grade."
INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION
The rules for grading grain are fixed by boards
of grain inspectors in the several states where the
great markets are located. These rules are pub-
lished and may be secured from the chairmen of
said boards, or from almost any grain dealer. In all
the great markets there is a rigid system of grain
inspection and grain grading under state super-
vision and control which greatly facilitates the
movement of wheat and reduces fraud and unfair-
ness in the grain trade. State weighing depart-
ments have been established at the great terminals
in several states, by which all the wheat is now
officially weighed, and the cheating by false weigh-
ing which was formerly notorious has been prac-
tically done away with.
LOCAL GRAIN INSPECTION
There is much less organization and control
of the handling of grain at the local elevators
than at the terminals. The correctness of the
weighing and the grading, and the fairness of the
price of wheat at the local elevator depend largely
on local competition and on the honesty of the
grain dealer. As a rule, the local buyer is honest
in the weighing. Fraudulent weighing is very
much condemned by all grain dealers associations,
and usually competition compels the dealer to pay
all the market will allow.
WHEAT 87
The local dealer often gives too little considera-
tion to the actual quality of wheat in fixing the
local market price. He learns about what the
general run of the wheat bought at his elevator
will grade, and he then pays about the same price
to each farmer, even though the wheat may
actually vary considerably in quality and grade.
The writer has stood at a grain elevator in a
western Kansas town and observed the delivery of
wheat which in his judgment should have been
given three different grades, yet the grain was
all graded No. 2 and sold at the same price. This
is not only unfair to the farmer selling the better
grade of wheat but it encourages carelessness and
neglect on the part of the producers in keeping
their grain pure and of high quality. The grain
dealer should make it to the advantage of the
farmer to sell a pure type of wheat of high grade
by paying a higher price for such grain, and he
should advertise the fact.
CO-OPERATION THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
The establishment of co-operative grain ele-
vators by the farmers has progressed rapidly in
the last ten years, and is having a salutary effect
in maintaining more uniform prices to the pro-
ducers, but such co-operation considers one side
of the problem only — the producer's side. It takes
no account of the handling and distribution of the
grain and its manufacture into food products and
their ultimate purchase and use by the consumer.
In recent years the very high cost of living is
calling attention to the fact that our methods of
88 WHEAT
handling and distribution are cumbersome and
more expensive than they need be. We need co-
operation along the whole line, and a spirit of
friendliness and fairness among all those interested
in order that these conditions may be improved.
The present condition calls for a careful investiga-
tion and such reorganization of our methods and
practices as may be found necessary in order that
the farmers' products may be more fully utilized
and placed in the hands of the consumer without
unnecessary waste, and at a reasonable cost.
COST OF PRODUCTION*
The cost of raising wheat varies greatly in
different sections of the United States. The pro-
duction of a bushel of wheat in Washington costs
20 to 35 cents; in Oregon, twenty cents; and in
Fig. 26. — Wheat field on Burlington farm, Holdrege, Nebr.
Yield, 52 bushels per acre.
*Data from Book of Wheat — Dondlinger.
WHEAT 89
North Dakota, 50 to 54 cents. The acre cost,
including interest on land and equipment, has
been computed since 1900 in several states as
follows:
North Dakota, $8.28; Minnesota, $6.40; Kan-
sas, $7.80; Nebraska, $8.26; Washington, $7.20;
and Wyoming, $10.38. This is an average cost
of $8.05 per acre or fifty-seven and one-half cents
per bushel. To raise a bushel of wheat in Russia
costs 34 to 48 cents; in Italy, sixty-nine cents;
in Hungary, 52 to^63 cents; in Germany, ninety-
five cents; and in India, sixty-five cents. The
acre cost is given as $8.00 for Russia; $8.29 for
Argentina; and $11.69 for Hungary.
The cost of raising wheat and all kinds of small
grains has been greatly reduced by the introduc-
tion of improved implements of tillage and modern
harvesting machinery. To produce a bushel of
wheat in the United States in 1830 required 183
minutes of human labor. In 1896 only ten
minutes were required. The labor cost per bushel
including both animal and human labor is stated
as twenty cents in 1830, and only ten cents in
1896. The greatest saving has been in the har-
vesting. The human labor which is still required
is quite light compared with that of 1830.
PROFIT IN WHEAT RAISING
The actual profit in raising wheat, however, is
not large. In a favorable season, bonanza farmers
of the Red River valley made a profit of $3.32
per acre, or 8% on the capital invested. This
takes no account of the exhaustion of soil fertility.
90 WHEAT
To make much profit it will be seen that the yield
must be increased above the average fourteen
bushels per acre. The cost of raising an acre of
wheat has been greatly reduced by the introduction
and use of improved machinery and by decreasing
the labor cost. Now we must give more attention
to decreasing the cost per bushel by increasing
the acre yield. The sixty bushel yield which the
writer produced at the Kansas experiment station
in 1906 cost less than fifteen cents per bushel.
The price of wheat on the market depends on
the grade. It is therefore of great importance
that every farmer be familiar with the methods
of scoring and grading grain.
SCORING WHEAT
Judging and scoring of grains is now a regular
part of the course of study in our agricultural
colleges. The methods and score cards used in
different institutions vary considerably. When
a sample of wheat is examined from a "seed
standpoint," purity, color, weight, uniformity,
quality and vitality are noted. From a "market
standpoint," weight and quality are the main
points considered, but purity as regards freedom
from foreign substance, other grain, or other types
of wheat is also given an important place. The
weight of wheat is indicated by its plumpness and
dryness. Damp grain or shrunken grain is light.
The quality relates not only to the weight, the
soundness and dryness of the grain, but also to
its composition or flour-making value as indicated
by the texture, hardness or softness of the kernel,
and the relative thicknejss of the hull.
WHEAT
91
SCORE CARD
The score card given below brings out the points
mentioned as well as any perhaps, but the reader
is advised to get in touch with the agricultural
college of his own state in order to secure special
information which may apply to the grading or
scoring of wheat in a particular territory or
market.
STUDENT'S SCORE CARD*
WHEAT
Name of variety
POINTS
Perfect
Score
EXHIBIT NUMBER
1
2
3
4
5
TRUENESS TO TYPE OB BREED CHARACTER-
ISTICS:
10
5
5
5
5
15
10
5
5
15
15
5
3. Shape of kernel — conformity to standard
4. Size of kernel — conformity to standard .
5. Color — conformity to standard
6. Gluten or starch. Amount of gluten is
indicated by the hardness. In soft
wheats mark on the per cent of starch as
indicated by softness of berry. These
qualities may be judged approximately
by the color and texture of the kernel . . .
MARKET CONDITIONS:
1. Vitality and maturity as indicated by
plumpness and brightness of color (make
2. Moisture content (make moisture deter-
3. Freedom from smut
1
5. Soundness or freedom from injury. No 1
broken, rotten, sprouted, musty, bin- [
burnt or otherwise injured berries J
6. Amount of foreign matter (determine
Total
100
Commercial Grade
Student's Name.
Date.
* Note— This form of score card, used at the Kansas Agricul-
tural College, was prepared by the author.
92 WHEAT
CHAPTER VIII
WHEAT ENEMIES
WEEDS
Weeds damage wheat both by reducing the
yield and injuring the quality of the grain. The
most objectionable weeds associated with wheat
fields are chess or cheat, wild oats, cockle, wheat-
thief, and wild mustard. All of these are annuals
and readily controlled by careful preparation of
the seed bed and a proper rotation of crops.
Weed pests become troublesome only where
wheat is grown continuously in the same fields.
The growth of weeds is a protest of nature against
the practice of continual grain cropping. There
is no remedy except rotation of crops, and clean
cultivation or clean summer fallow.
INJURIOUS INSECTS
It is impossible in this discussion to more than
touch on this part of the subject. The insects and
diseases which attack wheat often seriously injure
or destroy the crop, and in some cases there is
little or no means of preventing the damage.
CHINCH BUG AND HESSIAN FLY
Of the insect enemies the chinch bug and the
Hessian fly are perhaps the most destructive.
The remedies to stop their ravages are preventive
only, such as burning over the stubble land, which
allows the chinch bug no cover for hibernating,
and destroys the Hessian fly, since the insect
WHEAT
Fig. 27. — The Enemies of Wheat.— Chinch-bugs in different
stages of growth. A single egg is shown in a, and others on
the roots and a lower leaf; in b is shown a very young bug,
and in c, d, and e the later stages, while / shows the adult and
mature insect. The natural size of the bugs is shown on the
stems of the plant.
94 WHEAT
remains in the pupa stage in the stubble after
harvest. "Trap crops" are sometimes sown for
both insects, such as patches of millet planted
early in the spring to attract the chinch bug, and
the early planting of wheat in the fall to act as
a decoy to attract the flies. When the bugs have
congregated or the flies have laid their eggs, these
crops may be plowed under, thus destroying the
insects. Migrating chinch bugs may be kept out
of the fields to some extent by plowing protecting
furrows about the fields, and making coal tar
barriers, etc. Under certain favorable climatic
conditions chinch bugs may be largely destroyed
by fungous diseases to which they are subject.
The Hessian fly appears early in the fall, and its
attacks may be avoided by late sowing.
At the Kansas experiment station (Manhattan)
the average of several trials shows results favor-
ing seeding during the last week in September
or the first week in October. Even later seeding
is less affected by the fly, but the very late sown
wheat is likely to make a weak growth in the fall,
and is more liable to be winter killed than earlier
sown wheat. Perhaps one of the best means for
checking these insect pests and the plant diseases
which attack wheat, is to practice a regular system
of crop rotation. The Hessian fly can be starved
out almost completely by the abandonment for
one year of the crops in which it breeds — wheat,
rye and barley; while if a system of rotation with
corn be adopted that would entirely dissociate
small grains for a single season very little damage
from chinch bugs would occur.
WHEAT 95
GRAIN WEEVILS
There are several species of grain weevils which
attack and often severely damage stored wheat.
The two most common in the United States are
the granary weevil, the adult insect of which is
a small snouted beetle, and the grain moth or
angoumois. The larvae of these insects and also
the beetle itself attack the wheat kernels, devour-
ing the mealy part. They develop and multiply
very rapidly. The remedy is fumigation with
bisulphide of carbon, one pound to one ton of grain
or to 1,000 cubic feet of empty space. Hydro-
cyanic acid gas is used for fumigating mills and
large grain elevators. Naphthaline is the most
effective preventive.
FUNGOUS DISEASES— RUST AND SMUT
Among plant diseases, rust and smut are per-
haps the most destructive. There is no remedy
for rust other than the breeding of rust-resistant
varieties of wheat, and so far no fully rust-
resistant varieties have been produced, although
certain varieties growing side by side in a field
often show a different susceptibility to the attacks
of rust. This may be due, however, to different
periods of maturing and to weather conditions
as much as to the variety.
It is estimated that the damage by stinking smut
in many seasons amounts to 10% of the total wheat
crop of the United States, while certain fields
may show a much larger percentage of damage.
This disease may be almost wholly prevented. In
96 WHEAT
threshing smutty wheat the smut balls break and
the small, dust-like spores adhere to the wheat
kernels. When such wheat is planted the smut
spores sprout and produce a fungous growth
which infects the young wheat plant and grows
within it, fruiting and forming its spores in the
head of the wheat, taking the place of the grain.
Any treatment which will destroy these spores
without injuring the grain of wheat will prevent
smut. Several treatments have been more or less
successfully used, as hot water, copper sulphate
or bluestone, corrosive sublimate, and formal-
dehyde.
TREAT WITH FORMALDEHYDE
The best remedy known for stinking smut in
wheat is to treat the seed with a solution of formal-
dehyde. Use one pound of formaldehyde (40%
strength) to forty gallons of water. Either spray
the wheat or dip it into a barrel or tank containing
the solution, taking care that the grain becomes
thoroughly wet. The wet grain may be left in piles
and covered with blankets for a few hours in
order to retain the formaldehyde gas and insure
the destruction of all the smut spores. Then
spread the grain quite thinly on a tight floor or
canvas and allow it to dry from twelve to twenty-
four hours, shoveling it over once or twice. Care
should be taken not to allow the wet grain to heat
in the pile. The usual method is to treat one day
the seed that is to be sown the next day. The
wheat thus treated will swell some, and in order
to sow the required amount per acre the drill
WHEAT 97
should be set to sow about one-fifth to one-fourth
more grain than the usual amount. If the smut
spores adhering to the wheat grains are destroyed,
there is little danger from the smut spores that
may remain in the soil coming into contact with
the young wheat plants, and the resulting crop
should be practically free from stinking smut.
Formaldehyde is a poison, and if the treated
wheat is eaten by poultry or other livestock while
it is wet it is likely to injure or kill the animals,
but when the wheat has become fairly dry there
is no danger from feeding the treated grain be-
cause the formaldehyde evaporates and no poison
will remain in the wheat.
Loose smut of wheat is less injurious than hid-
den or stinking smut, but it is harder to control.
Loose smut destroys the heads and grain the
same as stinking smut but it matures earlier and
the smut spores are scattered by the wind while
the wheat is growing. Some of these spores fall
into the glumes of the growing wheat and sprout,
and infect the kernels and make some growth
before the grain reaches maturity. These young
smut plants remain dormant from the time the
wheat matures until the grain is planted, when
they start growth again with the sprouting wheat,
and growing within the wheat plant reach ma-
turity forming spores on the spike where the
wheat grain should have formed. These black-
ened or bare spikes occur soon after the wheat
reaches the full heading stage.
It is difficult to destroy the young smut plants
which have started within the wheat kernels.
7
98 WHEAT
Ordinary treatments for stinking smut do not kill
loose smut but loose smut may be destroyed by
treating the infected seed grain with hot water.
This treatment is also effective for destroying
stinking smut.
HOT WATER TREATMENT FOR LOOSE OR STINKING
SMUT OF WHEAT*
Dip the wheat in hot water at a temperature
of from 132 to 133° Fahrenheit. The seed should
be placed for the purpose in a coarsely woven
basket covered with wire netting, or else in a
coarse gunny sack. The basket or sack must not
be filled full, as the grain must be loose inside.
There should be six or eight times as much hot
water as the bulk of the grain to be treated, and
the temperature of the water must be kept at
the right point by letting in steam, or by adding
hot water from time to time if necessary. The
grain must be lifted out of the water four or five
times during the treatment and allowed to drain.
This is needful to insure that all the grain comes
into intimate contact with hot water at the right
temperature.
If not convenient to keep the water at 132 or
133° it may be allowed to go higher, but the treat-
ment must be shortened, and at 145° the treat-
ment must not be prolonged beyond five minutes,
and care must be taken that the water is even in
temperature throughout; otherwise some grain
"The above treatment for stinking smut is given in Farmers
Bulletin No. 250,United States Department of Agriculture
.WHEAT 99
will be killed and other grain insufficiently treated
so the smut will not be killed.
If steam is available the water can easily be
heated by conducting a steam pipe into the vessel.
The steam, in getting in, heats the water and at the
same time stirs it thoroughly. The hot water
treatment requires no outlay at all for chemicals,
but requires careful attention and considerably
more labor than any of the other treatments. If
properly carried out it is undoubtedly the best
treatment for all kinds of grain smuts.
After removing the grain from the hot water,
spread on a clean floor or on a piece of canvas to
dry. The layer of grain should not be more than
three inches thick. If it cannot be spread out at
once, dip in cold water and set to one side until
it can be attended to. It dries best if spread
while hot. After one portion is spread out an-
other can be treated, and so on, until all the seed
has been disinfected.
100 WHEAT
CHAPTER IX
MAINTAINING SOIL FERTILITY
Our agricultural teaching and modern methods
of farm practice have resulted in largely increased
crop yields at the expense of soil fertility. Experi-
ment stations and many farmers have been busy
investigating and applying better tillage methods
in the growing of wheat, and this is well. As the
writer has determined by experiments it is pos-
sible to double the yield of wheat in a single
season by careful and timely preparation of the
seed bed ; but the scientific tillage of the soil should
be combined with crop rotation, green manuring
and the use of barnyard manure and other neces-
sary fertilizers, or it will degenerate into a mining
proposition — mining the soil of its fertility.
In a sense, " tillage is manure" because the
favorable conditions produced by the cultivation
of the land cause the plant food in the soil to
become available faster than would be the case
without tillage. But good tillage alone will not
keep the soil fertile; rather it may cause the fer-
tility of the soil to become exhausted more rapidly
by the production of larger crops. There is also
a tendency to waste the soluble plant food by
drainage and soil drifting. The great problem
in western wheat farming today is not how to get
larger yields out of the soil for a few years, but
rather how to produce paying crops every year
and at the same time maintain the potential
fertility and productiveness of the land.
WHEAT
101
CONTINUOUS CROPPING THE MAIN FAULT
The fault with most wheat producing sections
is that the land is cropped with wheat too con-
tinuously. The continuous growing of wheat on
the same soil has always proved disastrous in
the course of years. This has been the history
of wheat farming, and largely on this account the
wheat-growing area of the United States has
moved ever westward. It appears now that most
of the land available for the growing of wheat has
been taken, and if wheat raising in this country
is to continue to be profitable there must be a
change in our methods of farming.
Fig. 28. — A typical Montana wheat field. Millions of acres like
these are still waiting for the plow.
102 WHEAT
WHEAT SICK LAND
Fertile land which has been cropped with wheat
for a long time becomes "wheat sick." It is not
necessarily exhausted in fertility — it needs a rest,
a change of crop. The soil is likely to become
exhausted in nitrogen and organic matter and
humus, and it may become deficient in some of
the mineral elements of plant food. But the prob-
lem of reduced yields is not a matter of plant food
alone. The continuous cropping with wheat
infects the soil with plant diseases and injurious
insects, and the loss of organic matter and con-
tinuous tillage destroys the ideal texture and tilth
which characterized the virgin prairie when it
was first broken. What the old wheat land needs
worst and first is a proper rotation of crops which
will serve to aerate the soil and free it of weeds
and infectious diseases and injurious insects, and
at the same time renew the supply of organic
matter and nitrogen.
ROTATION PLANS
In planning rotations, four general classes of
crops should be provided for if conditions will
allow:
1. A "money" crop, or crop to be sold, which
may remove from the soil considerable quantities
of plant food.
2. A leguminous crop to return nitrogen and
organic matter to the soil, and also by its deep
root system to collect subsoil phosphorus, potas-
sium and lime.
WHEAT 103
3. (a) A crop for feeding farm animals, the
plant food of which is largely returned to the soil
in manure; (b) a crop for green manure in case
livestock raising is not a part of the farming plan.
4. An intertilled crop for destroying weeds and
improving the physical and sanitary conditions
of the soil.
The arrangement or order of crops in a rotation
system should follow as far as possible these
rules:
1. To alternate shallow and deep rooted crops.
2. Crops which furnish organic matter should
alternate with those which favor its rapid decom-
position.
3. Use at least one leguminous crop in the
rotation in order to increase the supply of plant
food in the soil.
4. Crops in rotation should vary in time of
planting, cultivation, and harvest season as much
as possible, and in amount and kind of their
plant food requirements.
5. (a) Commercial fertilizer should be applied
to the special crop which will be most benefited
by its use, such as wheat, clover, or alfalfa, (b)
Manure should be applied to the hardy, more
vigorous growing crops, such as corn and forage
crops or grasses and clover which should precede
wheat.
The kinds of crops in the rotation will depend
upon the climatic and soil conditions, the market
requirements and the kind of farming. In the
more humid sections ideal rotation systems are
not difficult to plan and execute. The following
104 WHEAT
are some wheat rotations in practical use which
include most of the requirements named :
1. Wheat, clover, potatoes — three year rota-
tion.
2. . Wheat, clover, corn, oats — four year rota-
tion.
3. Wheat, clover and timothy (2 years), corn,
oats — five year rotation.
4. Wheat (2 years), alfalfa (5 years), corn
(2 years), oats — ten year rotation.
5. Wheat, wheat plus catch crop of cowpeas,
corn, oats — four year rotation.
6. Wheat, wheat, cowpeas — three year rota-
tion.
7. Wheat, corn and cowpeas, oats — three year
rotation.
It is possible to use barley or other small grain
in place of oats. Other green manure crops may
be used instead of cowpeas, such as sand vetch,
field peas, sweet clover, crimson clover, etc.
ROTATION FOR SEMI-ARID LAND
A regular and systematic rotation of crops is
not so easily adopted and carried out in the semi-
arid regions, but the following plans may be
successfully used :
1. Wheat, flax, fallow — three year rotation.
2. Wheat, corn, flax — three year rotation.
3. Wheat, flax, corn, oats — four year rotation.
4. Wheat (4 years), grasses and legumes
(5 years), corn — ten year rotation.
5. Wheat (2 years) green crop with fallow,
corn — four year rotation.
BBHBBi
106 WHEAT
6. Wheat, kafir (or other sorghum), fallow-
three year rotation.
7. Wheat, wheat plus green manure, kafir,
fallow — four year rotation.
8. Wheat (2 years), kafir, green crop with
fallow — four year rotation.
9. Wheat, corn (or other forage), oats plus
green manure, fallow — four year rotation.
10. Wheat, corn, cowpeas with fallow — three
year rotation.
Alfalfa may be grown successfully and used in
rotation in the more favorable soils of the semi-
arid regions. The first five plans are adapted to
the northwestern spring wheat area, where it
is difficult to use leguminous or green manuring
crops. The last five may be successfully prac-
ticed in Kansas and the southwest in the growing
of winter wheat. Plan No. 6 is now being prac-
ticed on the 3,600 acre experimental farm at
Fort Hays. One-third of the tilled upland on
this farm is planted to wheat each year, one-third
to intertilled and forage crops, mainly kafir, milo
and sweet sorghum, and one-third remains fallow
each year, making no crop and receiving summer
culture. During the year of fallow the land should
receive a dressing of manure, or early planted crops
may be plowed under for green manure. Wheat
follows the summer fallow and the forage crops
and the sorghums follow the wheat, thus every
year the great income producing crop, wheat, is
grown under the most favorable conditions. Where
conditions are more humid two or three crops of
wheat may be raised after fallow before the field
is planted again with sorghums.
WHEAT 107
MIXED FARMING
Such a system of farming compels the raising
of livestock to consume the forage, and this will
necessitate the building of silos and forage barns
to save the forage in large enough quantities so
that there will always be a reserve supply to tide
over a very dry season and thus make dry farming
permanent and sure. In the dry farming areas of
the Pacific slope and in the drier parts of the west-
ern plains and mountain states where dry farming
is practiced, alternate cropping and bare summer
fallowing seems to be as yet the most practical
method of maintaining crop yields. Perhaps
haps the future may develop green crops which
may be successfully used for green manure in these
dry areas in order to restore the decreasing soil
humus and organic matter. Under irrigation it
is possible to introduce one or more of the rota-
tion plans in use in humid climates, with perhaps
some variation in the kinds of crops.
INFLUENCE OF CROP ROTATION ON WHEAT YIELDS
The influence of individual crops in rotations
on succeeding wheat yields is shown by a long
series of experiments at the North Dakota exper-
ment station, in which wheat was grown after
each of several crops each year for three years in
succession in four year rotations, thus eliminating
the effect of seasons. As assistant agronomist
at the North Dakota experiment station the writer
had the privilege of conducting this work for
five years (1898 to 1902) and started this particu-
lar series of rotations. The results taken from
108
WHEAT
North Dakota bulletin No. 100, by Shepperd
and Doneghue, are given below.
TABLE V
Showing increase in yield per acre of wheat after
various crops, compared with wheat after wheat.
Wheat After
1st Year
Bushels
2d Year
Bushels
3d Year
Bushels
Total
Increase
Bushels
Wheat
Torn
Potatoes
Check
7.87
—1.49*
Check
7.57
13.29
Check
2.40
4.17
Check
17.84
15.97
Mangels
Rape
Field peas
Millet
Timothy
Fallow (no crop).. .
6.95
7.55
6.53
7.41
1.84
7.45
8.57
8.84
1.93
5.99
8.90
3.46
2.10
3.29
0.29
2.26
6.16
2.38
17.62
19.68
8.75
15.63
16.90**
13.29
*Decrea3e.
**There was 6.76 bushels increase in yield the fourth yoar.
There WES no increase in yield of wheat, as an
average, after flax or other small grains. The
largest total increase in wheat yields for three
years was 19.68 bushels per acre, after rape. The
second largest was 17.84 bushels after corn. The
average "check" yield of wheat after wheat, in
corn series was 15.35 bushels per acre; in the rape
series, 16.14 bushels per acre.
FERTILIZER NEEDS OF WHEAT
The plant food constituents in a normal wheat
crop of twenty-five bushels per acre, also in a
normal crop of corn, oats, clover, alfalfa, and the
fertility in manure and some other fertilizers
together with its value, are given in Table VI.
s
.s
"d
£
I
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03
o
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• rH
>>
1
—
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CO 00 CO Tl< 0 <£> 00 ^
i— 1 Tt IO O CD t> Tf OO
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rH C< CO IO
OO «O Tt lO Ci IO CO OO ^ O Tf -^ rf -O*-O
I-H o c^j w o co i-j o c^j co 10 ca c<i -10 -eg
o :«^ :^
(MOOOOOO»0(M t-OOOOO
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(M O5 OS ID »O OO «D Tt O «£> 00 -^* • -OO
(NOJ (MCO <MCO«005 rH • -OO
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(M CO
LO rH • O rH
O rH • (M -<* rH •
t t|~' 4J S
S
110
WHEAT
The values of the fertilizing constituents are
calculated at the market price of car lots as
follows:
Nitrogen in sodium nitrate 15c per pound
Phosphorus in ground rock phosphate 3c per pound
Potassium in kainit 6c per pound
TABLE VII
Amounts of plant food constituents in fertile
soils: ("Fertilizers and Crops" by VanSlyke)
Constituents
Percent
Pounds in one Acre to Depth
of Nine Inches
Nitrogen
Phosphorus. . .
Potassium
Calcium
0.10 to 0.30
0.03 to 0.11
0.80 to 1.60
0.20 to 1.50
2,500 to 7,500
750 to 2,750
20,000 to 40,000
5,000 to 37,500
Average
5,100
1,750
30,000
21,250
The average weight of an acre of soil to the
depth of nine inches is taken as 2,500,000 pounds.
The great bulk of the soil consists of inert ma-
terials, as clay and sand, composed largely of
aluminum and silica. The plant food constituents
are present only in relatively small proportions.
The combined amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus
and potassium in fertile soils are usually less
than 1% and only a very small proportion of these
small amounts are in forms immediately available
for the use of plants. Considering the small
amounts required by crops, the supply of plant
foods in the soil will theoretically last a very long
time. For instance comparing Tables V and VI
it will be seen that the average fertile soil con-
tains enough phosphorus in nine acre-inches to
produce more than 200 twenty-five bushel wheat
WHEAT 111
crops; enough nitrogen for 1,000 crops and enough
potassium for 10,000 crops. It is true also that
many subsoils to the depth of several feet at
least, are often as rich in the mineral plant foods
as the surface soil. We know that in practice
however, a very fertile soil will not continue
productive by continuous cropping without fer-
tilization for even 100 years. After thirty or forty
years of continuous wheat cropping, the fertile
Red River Valley lands are showing decreasing
yields. In fact a considerable area of this splendid
land is now being abandoned for wheat culture
because it will not produce yields large enough
to pay for the farming.
One reason for this condition is the waste of
soluable plant food by oxidation and drainage,
especially the nitrogen and the lime. It was
found at the Minnesota experiment station that
in growing eight crops of wheat continuously,
enough nitrogen disappeared from the soil to
produce nineteen other crops of wheat — thirty
bushels per acre. Again the mineral plant foods
are locked up and become unavailable in soils
which reach an unfavorable physical condition,
due to continuous cropping and loss of organic
matter.
WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE
It is evident therefore that theory and practice
do not agree. Land cannot be cropped for a
long time without fertilization and remain pro-
ductive. It is also evident that nitrogen, lime
and phosphorus are the limiting elements in soil
productivity.
112 WHEAT
Hopkins is authority for the statement that
the fertility of all normal soils in the United
States may be permanently maintained and even
increased by adopting systems of farming which
will supply three constituents regularly and in
proper amounts, namely, limestone, phosphorus
and organic matter. The limestone is required
to correct acidity, and is most cheaply applied
in the form of ground limestone rock as a surface
dressing. The phosphorus is needed solely for
its plant food value, and its most economical
source is ground rock phosphate. The supply
of organic matter must be renewed to provide
nitrogen and to keep the soil in favorable physical
condition. It has to do also with making avail-
able the potassium and other essential plant food
elements contained in the soil in abundance.
The ideal farm practice is to return to the soil
all plant food not sold from the farm. The or-
ganic matter may be in part maintained by plow-
ing down the stubble and by saving the straw
and manure and returning it again to the soil.
Investigations at several experiment stations
have determined that about one-third of the total
organic matter and nitrogen in a red clover plant
is contained in the roots and stubble. Alfalfa con-
tains a larger proportion of nitrogen in its roots,
while sweet clover and crimson clover may con-
tain a little less than red clover. If a crop of any
of these legumes is plowed under for green manure
there is added to the soil a definite amount of
organic matter and nitrogen which may be readily
computed. Thus the plowing under of a crop of
WHEAT 113
clover equivalent to a ton of dry hay will add forty
pounds of nitrogen per acre besides that contained
in the roots of the clover.
From Table VII it may be readily determined
how much manure or other fertilizer will be neces-
sary to use to return to the soil the amounts of
plant food removed by a twenty-five bushel wheat
crop, and normal yields of other crops used in
rotation.
In a four year rotation of wheat, corn, oats and
clover, the supply of organic matter and nitrogen
should be maintained by the rotation of clover
and by the application of fifteen tons of manure
every four years to the clover sod before plowing
for corn; or in the case of grain farming without
much livestock, the plowing under of one crop
of clover with the addition of nine tons of manure
per acre will supply the required nitrogen. Fifty
pounds of rock phosphate applied with fifteen
tons of manure, or one hundred pounds applied
with nine tons every fourth year, will maintain
the phosphorus content of the soil.
It is possible to keep up the nitrogen supply
without manure by using the rotation with clover,
and plowing down the second cutting and adding
a catch crop of cowpeas, planted after wheat and
plowed under in the fall, preceding corn. This
plan would require the use of 250 pounds of phos-
phate rock to maintain the phosphorus. If the
soil becomes acid or is lacking in lime, it should
receive an application of from one to three tons of
ground limestone per acre every fourth season.
If there is an abundant supply of phosphate in
114 WHEAT
the soil, it will doubtless not be necessary to use
more than one-half of the theoretically required
amount of phosphate in order to insure the pro-
duction of normal crops; a heavier application
would make larger yields possible.
Other commercial phosphate fertilizers are super-
phosphate, bone meal and Thomas slag. These
forms may be used in place of the ground rock
phosphate but are rather more expensive. There
are other commercial fertilizers which may be
used to advantage on some soils but it seems best
not to mention them here lest it confuse the
reader.
METHODS OF FERTILIZATION
If commercial fertilizers are used in growing
wheat, they had best be applied to the wheat
crop at seeding time by the use of a fertilizer drill.
Manure may be applied directly to wheat, prefer-
ably as a surface dressing after seeding and often
with good results. The writer increased the yield
of wheat thirty per cent on upland at the Kansas
experiment station, by applying ten tons of well
rotted manure per acre as a surface dressing to fall
wheat. Coarse strawy manure should not be used
for this purpose. A better plan is to supply the
necessary plant food for the wheat crop by manur-
ing or fertilizing other crops in the rotation. The
manure may be profitably applied to corn, alfalfa,
clover or grasses, and the clovers and grasses
respond well also to phosphate and limestone.
There is a double advantage in applying fer-
tilizer to the legume crop, since it not only causes
WHEAT 115
an increased yield of the legume, but a greater
storage of plant food in the roots of the legume
crop, due to the increased growth, and this
increase in the fertility of the soil will be available
to the crop which follows the legume.
HOW TO USE MANURE
Manure should not be applied in too heavy
applications, a light dressing of eight tons of
manure per acre over forty acres will give a
greater relative increase in the crop and greater
value to the manure than a heavier dressing of
sixteen tons per acre over twenty acres leaving the
remaining twenty acres unmanured. Actual
experiments on a small scale have proven this
statement. Also in plowing under a heavy dress-
ing of manure there is danger that the manure, by
breaking the capillary connection of the soil
with the subsoil may cause the crop to "burn
out" in a dry season. For the same reason it is
not advisable to plow under trashy or coarse
manure.
An experiment in manuring in wheat rotations
carried on for twenty years at the North Dakota
experiment station demonstrates the cumulative
effect of manuring. Only six loads of well rotted
manure was applied per acre to the corn or millet
in a four year rotation with wheat. The percent-
age increase in yields of wheat from manuring
compared with the same rotation without manure
is given in Table VIII.
116
WHEAT
TABLE VIII
Increase in wheat yield due to farm manure
by periods of five years (1892-1906), Bui. No.
100 N. D. Exp. Station.
Manure
Applied to
Percent Increase
First
Period
Second
Period
Third
Period
Fourth
Period
12.5*
3^.2*
21.3*
Average
12.2
19.3
15.8
Corn
Millet
Average
5.5
6.1
5.8
9.3
10.1
9.7
21.5
33.0
27.2
* Three years only.
The average annual increase in wheat yields
was nearly 16% due to the application of only
six loads of manure per acre once in four years,
and this was on the fertile wheat lands of the Red
River Valley.
THE VALUE OF WHEAT STRAW
Observe from Table V that a ton of wheat
straw contains about the same amount of plant
food elements as a ton of farm manure but it is
difficult to use the straw directly as a fertilizer
because of its bulky, trashy character. In the
great wheat producing areas it seems necessary
to burn a great deal of straw simply to get it out
of the way. When burning is necessary, it is
better to spread the straw over the field and burn
it rather than to burn it in piles. By spreading,
the ashes will be distributed over the land and
the nitrogen only will be lost in burning.
The introduction of a proper rotation of crops
WHEAT 117
will largely do away with the necessity of burning
the straw. Wheat straw has some feeding value
but perhaps the best use for it is as bedding in
the stable and in the yards where it may fulfill a
double purpose; to provide a suitable bed for
stock and also as an absorbent for the manure,
especially the liquid excreta of the animals, the
fertilizing value of which is greater even than that
of the solid excrement. After being tramped
and partially decayed, the straw itself makes
good manure and may be readily incorporated
with the soil.
GREEN MANURING WITH SUMMER FALLOWING
The soils of the Great Plains are usually abund-
antly rich in mineral plant foods and it is doubtful
if the application of phosphates or lime is neces-
sary in order to increase yields, but these same
soils are and always have been lacking in organic
matter and the continuous cropping has rapidly
depleted the natural supply. It has been found
difficult to rotate crops in semi-arid regions so as
to restore the organic matter.
The method of green manuring and partial
summer fallowing which has been put into prac-
tice at the Ft. Hays, Kansas experiment station is
in the judgment of the writer an advantage over
bare summer fallowing and largely overcomes the
objections to summer tilling. The plan is to
plant a fall crop or early spring crop and plow
it under late in May or early in June, practicing
a summer fallow with surface cultivation (summer
tillage) for the balance of the season until seeding
118 WHEAT
time. Certain crops adapted to the west are being
tested for this purpose; the most promising are
sand vetch and sweet clover for fall seeding and
field peas for spring seeding. These crops are
hardy rapid, growers and somewhat drouth re-
sistent and may be used in part for pasture, thus
giving some return other than their fertilizing
value. .
VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS
Wheat sown directly after green manuring
with field peas, has not given as high yields as
when sown after a bare fallow. Sand vetch is
safer to use because it may be seeded in the fall
and is ready to plow down early in the spring.
An experiment in green manuring in wheat
rotations at the North Dakota experiment station
indicates, that as the supply of organic matter
decreases, the benefit from green manuring in-
creases. This experiment has been carried on for
twenty years, a crop of field peas or millet being
plowed down every fourth year. The results of
green manuring on the succeeding yields of wheat
compared with the same rotation in which the
peas and millet crops were harvested is given in
Table IX.
TABLE IX
Showing the influence of green manuring upon
wheat yields by periods of five years (1892-1906),
Bui. No. 100 North Dakota experiment station:
WHEAT
119
Green Manured
With
Percent Increase or Decrease
First
Period
Second
Period
Third
Period
Fourth
Period
Average
Field peas
Millet
Average
—9.6*
0.6
—6.9*
—7.0*
33.2
10.0
17.6
10.5
8.6
3.5
—4.5*
—7.0*
21.6
14.1
6.1
*Decrease.
The negative results during the first two
periods are more than off -set by the positive in-
crease in yields in the last two periods. It should
be remembered also that this North Dakota
soil (the typical Red River Valley wheat lands)
is far richer in organic matter than the average
soil of the Western Plains.
DANGER OF GREEN MANURING
The danger from green manuing is that the
seed bed will be left too loose the first year with
a tendency to dry out and injure the crop. Also,
the wheat is apt to produce too rank a growth of
straw, the first crop after green manuring. These
objections may be in part overcome by early
plowing, subsurface packing and frequent surface
cultivation in order to hasten the decay of the
organic matter, conserve the soil moisture and
secure a firm, well pulverized condition of the
seed bed.
If this method of green manuring can be gen-
erally adopted, it will solve the problem for a long
time at least of keeping up the supply of organic
matter and maintaining the productiveness of
our western wheat lands.
120
WHEAT
In conclusion, the farmer who carries out a
proper system of crop rotation, as described in
these pages, growing wheat on only a part of his
fields each season, may produce more wheat on
one-third or one-half of his farm in the next forty
years than he would produce by continually
growing wheat on all his land. The crops used in
rotation will give an additional profit when fed
to live stock, and if the manure is saved, and
returned to the soil, with perhaps a little phosphate
and limestone, as may be required, the fertility
of the land should be maintained and its produc-
tiveness increased. Such a practice carried on for
100 or 1,000 years should give similar results.
122
WHEAT
CHAPTER X
WHEAT ON THE PACIFIC COAST
Washington is the leading wheat producing
state of the Pacific slope. Up to 1900 California
exceeded Washington in wheat production. The
total crop in 1900 was 28,543,628 bushels for
California and 25,096,661 bushels for Washington.
In 1912, Washington produced 53,414,000 bushels
and California only 6,290,000 bushels. The
exhaustion of California's wheat lands and the
development of agriculture along more profitable
lines than grain farming is given as the reason for
this remarkable falling off in wheat production.
The present relation of the acreage, for both
spring and winter wheat, the average yields per
acre, and total production in the four wheat pro-
ducing states of the Pacific coast from 1910 to
1912 are given in the following table:
TABLE X
STATE
Spring Wheat
Winter Wheat
Total
Production
Bushels
Average
Acreage
Acres
Av'ge
Yield
per
Acre
Average
Acreage
Acres
Av'ge
Yield
per
Acre
Idaho
Washington. . .
Oregon
California. . . .
187,333
1,139,000
239,667
25.9
18.1
18.4
342,333
861,333
561,000
600,000
28.0
25.1
24.2
17.7
14,343,000
43,226,000
18,052,667
10,676,667
Tot'landAv'ge
1,566,000
20.8
2,364,666
23.8
86,298,334
WHEAT 123
LARGE SIZE OF FARMS
Wheat farming on the Pacific coast is remark-
able for the gigantic scale in which it is carried
on. It is not uncommon for a single farmer to
grow several thousand acres of wheat each
year. Some of the larger farms exceed 5,000 acres
in area. In 1907, R. C. McCroskey, near Gar-
field, Washington, in the famous Palouse country,
harvested and threshed 46,000 bushels of wheat
from a single field of 1,000 acres. This is said to
be the largest crop of wheat ever grown in one
field. While Washington has some of the
largest wheat farms in the world, the very large
farms are the exception, the average wheat farms
ranging in size from 160 to 640 acres. In the other
Pacific slope states the farms average less in
area than in Washington.
METHODS IN FARMING
Wheat raising on the Pacific coast is carried
on almost entirely by dry farming methods.
Irrigation is practiced to some extent in Idaho
and California, but when compared with the dry
farming area the acreage is very small. Wheat
is grown continuously on the same land, little
or no rotation of crops being practiced in the
wheat growing sections, but the usual method
now coming into practice is to summer fallow the
land about every third year.
Extensive farming and continuous grain crop-
ping have exhausted the rather limited supply of
nitrogen and organic matter originally contained
in most of these semi-arid soils. The result is
124 WHEAT
that grain yields are beginning to decrease, and
wheat farming is becoming less profitable on the
older lands, especially in California.
The Pacific coast wheat grower is up against
the same problems that confront the western
plains farmer — the conservation of humus and
nitrogen and the maintenance of the productive-
ness of his soil.
In the California experiment station Bulletin
No. 211, "How to Increase the Wheat Yield,"
Professor G. W. Shaw comments upon past and
present conditions of wheat farming in California
as follows:
"The old methods of grain growing still persist
in California. They are generally very simple and
very crude. At first satisfactory returns were
obtained because of an unusually fertile, virgin
soil. At the outset there was an annual cropping
of the land to the cereals with no attempt to
either rotate crops or restore any of the humus
that such a system destroys. In order to cover
as large an acreage as possible the crudest methods
of culture were practiced. The practice con-
sisted simply of three or four-inch plowing, broad-
casting the seed, and harrowing it in. But little
attention was paid to the selection of pure seed,
and far too often the growers purchased a second
or a third grade seed under the false notion that
anything that would sprout was good enough.
"The more important changes which have
taken place since the introduction of the above
named crude practices have been the replacing
of the header and stationary thresher by the com-
WHEAT 125
bined harvester, and the quite general introduc-
tion of the practice of summer-fallowing the land.
"The development of the combined harvester
has, without doubt, decreased the cost of pro-
duction where grain is grown upon a large scale,
but it has at the same time tended to encour-
age a desultory system of culture, and rendered
the fields very foul through a general distribution
of weed seeds, because by the time the grain is
harvested in this manner practically all the serious
weeds have fully ripened their seed; and further,
the length of time the grain is left in the field
after maturity has tended to seriously increase
the loss from shattering by the wind. It is very
questionable, then, whether the combined effects
of these undesirable factors have not more than
offset the decreased cost.
"The summer fallow (summer tillage) practice
was introduced for two reasons; first, it was an
attempt to save as much of two season's precipita-
tion as possible for the production of a single
larger crop; second, to clean the land of weeds
resulting from continued grain culture. The latter
effect has been largely offset by the use of the com-
bined harvester.
"The shallow preparation of land and the con-
tinual practice of burning off the straw have had
a very bad effect upon the humus content of
the top foot of the soil, which in turn has so
affected its physical condition, generally speaking,
as to materially reduce its moisture capacity and
seriously affect the yield of grain. Further, the
earlier seeding made possible by the summer
WHEAT 127
fallow practice has also reduced the quality of the
grain, as shown by the analyses of a large number
of samples of early and late seeded grain.
"During recent years, mainly as a result of
the reduction in size of some grain farms, and the
educational efforts conducted by the university
of California throughout the state, there has been
an increase of the depth of plowing on the part of
some farmers, but in general the same careless
methods of culture still hold.
"To summarize, the general effect of the past
and present methods has been the development
of a poor physical condition of the land, largely
a result of the depletion of the humus, until the
soil refuses to produce profitable yields of the
commonly grown varieties of wheat under the
old system of farming."
CULTURE METHODS IN WASHINGTON AND
OREGON
The culture methods practiced in Washington
and Oregon are perhaps little if any better than
those in California, but the newer lands in these
states have not yet begun to show the decrease
in yield which will surely follow continuous grain
growing. The experiment stations and some of
the farmers are trying to solve the problems of
restoring the humus and soil nitrogen and thus
maintain the soil fertility. Experiments indicate
that this may be accomplished by green manuring,
rotation of crops, and deeper tillage; but it is a
difficult matter to rotate crops in these exclusively
grain raising areas, also the crops which are hardy
128 WHEAT
and well adapted for green manuring have not
yet been fully determined.
INCREASING THE YIELD BY BETTER CULTURE
Deep plowing compared with shallow plowing
for wheat at the experiment station farm at
Davis, California in forty trials gave an average
increased yield of 37.4%. At the San Joaquin
valley station it was found that adding humus to
the soil by green manuring with rye and vetch
increased the average yield 244%, compared with
growing wheat after wheat, and the green ma-
nuring plot gave 62% greater yield than the bare
summer fallow.
The relative yields were given as follows:*
Yield per Acre, Bushels,
Treatment Average for 1909 and 1910
Wheat after wheat 15.7
Bare fallow 33.3
Rye and vetch (turned under) 54.0
Rye alone (turned under) 52.3
Professor Shaw concludes from these and other
experiments that by means of deeper plowing and
better culture methods, together with the growing
of green manuring crops during the winter, the
average acre yield of wheat in California may be
doubled and at the same time the soil rendered
more fertile. The use of commercial fertilizers
did not as a rule give much benefit in the_Cali-
fornia experiments.
"California Experiment Station Bulletin No. 211.
WHEAT 129
CONSERVATION OF SOIL MOISTURE
Scientific tillage to conserve the soil moisture
and prepare a suitable seed and root bed is just
as important in dry farming on the Pacific coast
as on the western plains, and the same principles
apply though the practice may vary somewhat.
Professor Geo. Severance of the Washington
experiment station gives the following summary of
methods for best dry farming practice:
" 1. Keep up the supply of humus by chopping
in all the straw and stubble available.
"2. Disk the stubble before the fall and winter
rains begin, to absorb the precipitation as quickly
and completely as possible.
"3. As soon as the soil is fit to work in spring
work up two to four inches of loose, dry soil to
hold moisture.
"4. Follow the plow as closely as possible
with a subsurface packer.
"5. Harrow wheat in spring as soon after the
soil is fit to work as the wheat is well rooted.
"Successful dryland tillage does not call so much
for an increased amount of labor as for labor
properly applied."
VARIETIES TO GROW
Club head wheat (Triticum sativum compac-
tum), a sub-species of common wheat (Triticum
sativum vulgare), is the type most largely grown
in the Pacific coast states. This is a soft, white
wheat not so valuable for milling as the wheat
of the western plains, for it is necessary to blend
9
130 WHEAT
it with hard wheat in milling in order to make
good flour. The club wheat is grown because of
its peculiar characteristics which make it suitable
to the climatic conditions and to the harvesting
methods commonly practiced. The climate being
always dry at harvest time, the grain is left in
the field until it is fully ripe, when it is harvested
with the "combine" which harvests and threshes
the wheat at a single operation. It is desirable
therefore that the wheat should stand erect and
not shatter. The Club Head is peculiar in this
respect. It has a very compact spike without
beards and a stiff, short straw. It is a rapid-
growing, early-maturing, erect-growing, non-shat-
tering variety which is well adapted to the con-
ditions. It is also hardy and a good yielder.
Hence it has held its place as the most popular
variety in spite of its poor milling quality.
In the Pacific coast states, wheat varieties are
classed as "spreading" or "erect," referring to the
early habit of growth of the plants. Certain
varieties, largely grown in the central and western
states, including nearly all the varieties of com-
mon wheat, spread out or stool for sometime before
shooting. These varieties do not cover and shade
the ground quickly and do not check weed
growth.
The "erect" growing varieties of the club head
type shoot up quickly and soon shade the soil
and check weed growth, thus the wheat keeps
ahead of the weeds. This is an important factor
in wheat culture in the Pacific coast states, be-
cause of the foul, weedy condition of the wheat
WHEAT 131
land caused by continuous cropping with grain
which is harvested with the "combine" that
scatters the weed seeds again. Hence the " spread-
ing" varieties are not well adapted to the pre-
vailing conditions and the general culture methods.
The "spreading" varieties, such as Turkey Red,
Crimean and Gold Coin are grown in limited area
by irrigation, and such varieties may be suited
to small farming where rotation of crops is prac-
ticed and where the wheat is harvested with the
binder.
WINTER OR SPRING WHEAT
Winter wheat is grown almost exclusively in
California. In Washington and Oregon the areas
devoted to spring wheat and winter wheat are
about equal. There seems to be no settled prac-
tice among the wheat growers, either as regards
season of planting or variety grown. Thus winter
wheat may be grown largely in one locality, while
an adjacent locality, grows spring wheat.
Club and blue stem are the principal spring
varieties; winter fife and Turkey are the common
winter varieties.
WHEAT IMPROVEMENT
A successful attempt has been made by the
Washington experiment station to improve the
varieties of wheat by crossing the soft, erect
spring club varieties with the hard winter wheat
of the Turkey type to secure hardy, erect winter
varieties which shall be non-shattering and of
better milling quality than the original club wheat.
132
WHEAT
Several hydrids have thus been produced and
fixed in type, which appear to give the desired
results. Improved seed of these varieties is now
being distributed to the farmers. Wheat improve-
ment is also being brought about by the farmers
through selection and grading of seed wheat.
FARMING PRACTICE AND PROFITS
The farming practice in use on the Pacific coast
wheat farms, while not as thorough as it might
be, is modern. Large machinery is used in tilling
the soil. Engine plows are common. The harvest-
ing is done with the combination harvester and
thresher, which is propelled usually by thirty-two
horses or by a traction engine. Binders are
seldom used. The fertile soil producing large
yields and the cheap and extensive methods of
culture have made Pacific coast wheat farming
very profitable. The cost of raising and market-
Fig. 31. — Large machinery is used in tilling the soil.
WHEAT 133
ing wheat in the Palouse country is given as
26 to 40 cents per bushel, depending on the season,
the method of farming and the distance from
market. An even lower cost of production is re-
ported for the Great Bend country and other
wheat growing areas in Washington.
The average export price of wheat for the five
years, 1906-1910, was eighty-fiv^ and one-half
cents per bushel.* The average total wheat
marketed by the four states per year for four
years 1906 to 1909 was 49,493,041 bushels. The
wheat is all handled in sacks. There are no grain
elevators. In their place, ware houses are used
and open platforms on which the grain is piled
to await shipment.
In 1906 there were in operation in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho, 241 flour mills with a
combined output of 40,620 barrels of flour per day.
Nearly two-thirds of the wheat produced is used
for home consumption in the coast states or in
the adjacent mountain states. The excess is
exported largely to China and Japan. The total
exports of wheat from Pacific ports in the United
States averaged 29,000,000 bushels per year for
five years, 1906 to 1910.
"United States Bureau of Statistics Bulletin No. 89.
134 WHEAT
CHAPTER XI
WHEAT GROWING IN CANADA
A PART OF THE GREAT PLAIN
" The western provinces of Canada are really one
vast prairie which is included in the great plains re-
gion. Commencing some fifty miles east of Winni-
peg this prairie extends westward over 800 miles to
the foothills of the Rockies. It is really a series
of three great plains, viz: (1) The Red River
valley, a low, flat prairie, 800 feet above the sea,
7,000 square miles in area, extending from about
the 96th to the 100th meridian, embracing the
richest wheat lands of Manitoba. (2) The middle
prairie extending from about the 100th to the 108th
meridian, with an average elevation of 1,600 feet,
about 105,000 square miles in area, one-half of
which is fairly level open prairie and mostly
good fertile soil. (3) The 'third steppe' extending
from the 108th meridian to the Rockies, including
Alberta and the western portion of Saskatchewan,
average elevation 3,000 feet, area 134,000 square
miles, topography more varied than the second
plain but containing much fertile land."*
The prairie soils of western Canada are uni-
formly rich in plant food, especially in nitrogen.
The large proportion of organic matter and humus
gives these soils great moisture holding capacity
and an agreeable physical condition favorable
to the action of soil bacteria and rapid plant
growth. Actual determinations by Prof. Frank
*Hand Book of Canada, 1897.
WHEAT 135
T. Shutt, the government chemist at Ottawa, of
samples of Red River valley soil gave an organic
matter content exceeding 26% in black, heavy
loam taken near Morris, and over 11% in black
sandy loam taken at Brandon, Manitoba. Six
other Red River valley samples gave an organic
matter content varying from 11.44 to 21.54%.
In Saskatchewan twelve typical samples from
various parts of the province gave an organic
matter content varying from 5.54% in heavy clay
loam near Maple Creek, to 14.23% in grayish-
black loam near Tisdale. The other samples gave
percentages varying from 10.20 to 13.93%.
In Alberta the organic content of the soil is
more variable but averages nearly as high as in
Saskatchewan, the variation for nine typical
samples being 5.89% in a dark-gray sandy loam
at Lethbridge, to 17.83% in a black sandy loam
at Lac la Nonne. The percentage of phosphoric
acid, potash and lime averaged very high in all
of the soils.*
Portions of Manitoba and Saskatchewan abound
in lakes and ponds. Some areas are too flat and
need drainage before the land can be farmed suc-
cessfully. The soil is of glacial origin, and as pre-
viously stated it is usually very fertile and of great
depth. It will not "wear out" with a few years
of cropping, but there are other factors of un-
certainty which may greatly reduce production
in unfavorable seasons. The greatest of these are
drouth and early frosts. The damage from early
frosts may be in part overcome by planting early
*Department of Agriculture of Canada Bulletin No. 6.
WHEAT 137
maturing varieties of wheat which have been
bred and adapted to the climate and soil. The
injurious effects of drouth may be largely pre-
vented by clean summer fallowing and by prac-
ticing scientific methods of culture adapted to dry
farming. Irrigation is practiced to some extent
in Alberta, and limited areas may be irrigated
in other provinces, but crops are largely grown
by dry farming methods and this will continue
since it will never be possible to irrigate any large
part of the tillable lands of this vast region.
The Canadian west from the 100th meridian
to the mountains is a " dry " country. The rainfall
is variable, ranging from 9 to 30 inches for differ-
ent years and different sections of the country.
According to Stupart the total annual precipita-
tion for Saskatchewan and Alberta averages less
than fourteen inches and 17.34 inches is given as
the average annual rainfall of Manitoba.
Other rainfall data is given as follows: Annual
at Edmonton (13 years) 18.44 inches; at Regina,
(7 years) 14.77 inches; at Prince Albert, 17.95
inches. Prince Albert, in Latitude 53°-10' is the
farthest north point in the Saskatchewan valley
where wheat is grown to any extent. The average
annual rainfall at each of the several government
experimental farms for four years, 1908-1911 is
computed as follows:
Inches
Brandon, S. Manitoba 17.62
Indian Head, S. Saskatchewan 18.63
Lethbridge, S. Alberta 13.55
Lacombe, C. Alberta 16.70
The total average rainfall for the six growing
138 WHEAT
months, April 1 to October 1 for twenty-one years,
at Indian Head is given as 12.93 inches — almost
as great as the average rainfall at Ottawa for the
same period. Thus while the annual rainfall is
deficient, judging by eastern standards, there is
this advantage — about 70% of the rainfall comes
during the growing season. June and July are
usually the months of greatest rainfall.
WHEAT GROWING AREAS
Prof. Charles E. Saunders, cerealist of the
dominion experimental farms, has divided Canada
into six chief wheat producing sections as follows:
1. The Maritime Provinces — Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick — Not
very much wheat is grown in this section — mostly
spring sown — kernels plump but rather soft and
starchy — best varieties — Preston, Huron, Stanley,
Pringle's Champlain, Red Fife and Marquis.
2. Quebec and Northern Ontario: Small acreage—
mostly spring wheats — medium hard and good
quality for milling — best varieties — Huron, Pres-
ton, Bishop, Marquis, Red Fife and White Fife.
3. Southern Ontario: 561,000 acres in 1912—
mostly winter wheat — large, plump grain but
soft and quite starchy — best varieties — Dawson's
Golden Chaff (beardless), Turkey Red (bearded),
Egyptian Amber and Tasmania Red.
4. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northern and
Central Alberta: A large territory — large acreage—
mostly spring wheat — hard, glutinous kernels-
excellent quality for milling — best varieties-
Marquis and Prelude (very early), Huron, Pres-
WHEAT 139
ton, Pringle's Champlain, Bishop, Chelsea, Red
Fife and White Fife.
5. Southern Alberta: The great winter wheat
section of Canada; (some spring wheat grown)—
produces the best quality of hard red winter wheat,
unexcelled for milling— yields large — best vari-
eties— Turkey Red (bearded), Kharkof (bearded),
and Ghirka (beardless). Seed of these varieties,
secured from the Kansas experiment station in
1907 and 1908. The old "Alberta Red," still
extensively grown, is a Turkey Red wheat but not
so well bred as the new importations.
6. British Columbia: Small acreage as yet-
variable climate — winter and spring varieties
grown.
'VARIETIES
In the classification of wheat growing areas
given above the varieties recommended for sowing
are mainly in the order of their highest yields.
The oldest variety of wheat in Canada and the
variety which is most widely grown and most
highly esteemed is Red Fife. This wheat is
remarkable for its productiveness, for its hard
quality and high milling value, and for its power of
adapting itself to varying conditions of soil and
climate. Fife wheat was originated or discovered
by an Ontario farmer, Mr. David Fife, after whom
it is named. In 1842, Mr. Fife obtained a small
sample of wheat from a friend in Glasgow, Scot-
land. It came in the spring, and not knowing
whether it was a winter or spring variety, he
planted some of it. It proved to be a winter wheat
140 WHEAT
and never ripened, except three heads which ap-
parently grew from a single seed. The grain from
these heads was saved and planted the next
season and the product was saved and planted
again, and from it sprang the variety of wheat
known all over Canada and the northern states as
Red Fife or Scotch Fife.
EARLY MATURING VARIETIES ESSENTIAL
The Red Fife wheat had many points of excel-
lence, but for growing in the more northern
climates it had one serious fault — it was rather
too late in maturing, and in seasons of early frosts
the grain was likely to be injured and reduced
in yield and value. This condition caused a de-
mand on the part of the Canadian growers for
an earlier ripening wheat. Dr. William Saunders,
director of the dominion experimental farms, met
this demand by importing early maturing varieties
of wheat from northern Russia and India. These
varieties proved to be inferior in quality and yield,
but by crossing them with Red Fife, a number of
new varieties have been produced which are
earlier than the Red Fife, and in some cases
nearly as good in quality and which produce large
yields and are well adapted for growing in the
western provinces. Several of these varieties
such as Preston, Huron, Bishop and Stanley are
well known throughout Canada and the northern
states. More recent introductions are the Marquis
and Prelude, which are proving to be the earliest
and hardiest of the SaundersVarieties.
In thus producing these early hardy varieties
WHEAT 141
Dr. Saunders has rendered a most valuable
service to the wheat growers of the northwest,
which not only makes wheat farming much more
sure and profitable but it has allowed for the ex-
tension of wheat culture to more northern lati-
tudes than was ever dreamed of before these
hybrid wheats were introduced. It is reported
that Ladoga wheat, one of the early Russian
varieties, has been matured at Ft. Vermillion in
latitude 58°-30'— 600 miles north of the Montana-
Alberta boundary line, and 591 miles north of
Winnipeg. A sample of sixty-two pound wheat
was produced at Ft. Simpson, 818 miles north
of Winnipeg.
DURUM WHEAT
Durum wheat is grown to a limited extent in
Canada. It yields well in the eastern provinces
and is particularly productive in the drier climates.
It is hardier and more drouth resistant than or-
dinary wheat and often out-yields the common
wheat where it matures well. The durum varieties
are later in maturing than the earlier varieties of
the common type. The durum wheat is unpopular
with millers for flour making because of its extreme
hardness and the yellowish color of the flour. It
should be grown only for a special purpose or
market and in considerable area so that it may be
handled by separate elevators or in carload lots.
Durum wheat usually sells at a less price than
good milling wheat of similar grade and quality.
Kubanka and Wild Goose are standard varieties
and recommended for general planting.
142 WHEAT
WINTER WHEAT VARIETIES
The winter wheat districts of Canada are quite
distinct and limited in area. There are two prin-
cipal areas: southern Ontario and southern
Alberta. The climate of southern Ontario is
quite humid and not favorable to producing a
good quality of hard wheat. Soft or semi-hard
wheats succeed best, such as Dawson's Golden
Chaff, Gold Coin, Early Red Clawson, Red
Velvet Chaff and Red Chief; but the Turkey and
Kharkof varieties are also grown and produce
a better quality of grain but give less yield as a
rule than the other sorts. The climate of south-
ern Alberta is quite dry and the winters are long,
but the severe cold which prevails farther east in
Manitoba and Saskatchewan is moderated in
Alberta by the warm winds ("Chinook" winds)
which blow over the mountains from the south-
west.
The area which is most affected and which is
best adapted for growing winter wheat lies along
the base of the mountains and extends from the
Montana line north to Calgary, a distance of 200
miles, and varies in width from 100 to 200 miles.
In this favored area large yields of an excellent
quality of hard red winter wheat are produced.
This wheat has been given a market grade and
is called "Alberta Red."
The original "Alberta Red" was simply Turkey
wheat, the seed of which was imported from south-
ern Nebraska in 1901. This stock was impure
and mixed as the writer discovered during his
visit to Alberta in 1907, where he was sent by the
WHEAT 143
state of Kansas to study Alberta wheat with the
purpose of importing seed wheat to Kansas.
Because the wheat was mixed and of scrub breed-
ing, I did not recommend the importation of
"Alberta Red" seed wheat into Kansas notwith-
standing its excellent quality, since our best
Kansas varieties were superior in purity and breed-
ing. I called the attention of W. H. Fairfield,
superintendent of the southern Alberta experi-
mental farm to this condition, and advised that
he secure some of our Improved Kansas Seed
Wheat, which he did.
The Kansas bred Turkey and Kharkof proved
to be superior to the best "Alberta Red", pro-
ducing from seven to ten bushels larger yields
per acre in the first trials, thus demonstrating
the importance of pure breeding. (See annual
report of southern Alberta experimental farm for
1909.) Seed of these pure bred Kansas strains
has been widely distributed in Alberta, so these
wheats are now grown quite generally throughout
the province.
WORK OF PROFESSOR ZAVITZ
Attention has already been called to the work
of Dr. Saunders in producing earlier maturing
varieties of wheat by hydridization and selection.
This breeding work is being continued at several
Canadian experiment stations. Doubtless, the
durum wheats may be improved and made earlier
by selection and breeding. This work is already
being attempted by the agricultural college at
Guelph, Ontario, which college under the direction
144 WHEAT
of Prof. C. A. Zavitz has done a great amount of
work in seed grading and seed selection. Profes-
sor Zavitz has shown by a large number of experi-
ments with many varieties that the selection of the
larger and heavier wheat kernels for seed has al-
most invariably given the largest yields. This work
has established the importance of grading seed
wheat and — has caused the farmers to fan and
grade their seed wheat more carefully, which in the
judgment of the writer, is one of the reasons for the
increased acre-yield in Canada, noted for the past
few seasons.
The grading of seed grain and the planting of the
heavy seed is perhaps more necessary in western
Canada than in the states because of the liability
to injury of the grain by early frosts. The lighter,
shrunken kernels are naturally the ones which are
most likely to have been injured by frost. The im-
provement of seed wheat and other seed grain has
also been greatly promoted by the Canadian
Seed Growers Association which was organized in
1904. This association consists of farmers who
desire to make a speciality of growing on their
own farms, one or more varieties of "high class"
seed under the expert direction of the government
experiment station, for the purpose of increasing
and distributing the better seed by sale to other
growers.
The association had 200 operating members in
1910. A large amount of the best seed of all kinds
of crops is grown and distributed in this way.
The association holds annual meetings which are
largely attended.
146 WHEAT
CHAPTER XII
CULTURE METHODS
This chapter will relate largely to spring
wheat, since it is the type most largely grown.
The growing of wheat in the eastern provinces is
comparatively limited and of relatively small im-
portance. The grain is grown in rotation with
other crops and in connection with the raising of
livestock. The culture methods pursued are
similar to those adapted to the eastern states.
The great wheat fields are in western Canada
where there are millions of acres of new land
available for wheat growing, not yet under cultiva-
tion. This great area is being rapidly settled.
Millions of acres of prairie sod have been broken
in the last ten years. Millions more will be
broken in the next ten years. It is possible and
profitable to use large machinery in the wheat
farming of west Canada. Here on the wide
prairies the big engine plows, the large harrows
and disks, and the big twelve and fourteen foot
drills can be used to the greatest advantage.
The size of the machinery used should suit the
size of the farm. The 160-acre farmer may use
his sulky plow and two or three horse harrow,
but farming on a large scale requires the use of
large machinery and strong power. On the larger
farms, four, six and eight horse teams and ma-
chinery to match is or should be the rule, and this
method should bring the greatest profit. Many of
the new settlers must necessarily begin in a small
way because they are limited as to capital and
148 WHEAT
equipment. It is important, therefore, that they
should begin right and make all their work count
towards producing good crops. The success or
failure of a new settler may often depend upon the
method employed in the preparation of the land
for the first crop. Hence, the question of breaking
is of the utmost importance.
BREAKING PRAIRIE SOD
New settlers as a rule are anxious to sow every
acre possible, regardless of how or when the break-
ing was done. Breaking done before July 1,
while the soil is moist and in good plowing con-
dition will usually produce a good crop of wheat,
or other small grain the following season; but
as a rule such land will fail to produce a profitable
crop the second season after breaking because of
the dry, undecayed and unfavorable physical
condition of the soil. Sod broken after July 1st
will usually remain dry and unrotted and the
planting of late breaking, the first season after
breaking, often results in crop failure and such
land may remain in bad physical condition and
unproductive for several seasons, if continuously
cropped.
BREAKING AND BACKSETTING
Early shallow breaking and backsetting 2 to 4
inches deeper than the breaking is the best and
most successful method of preparing new land
for wheat on the western Canadian prairies. In
some areas where the sod is thin and the soil is
light, single early breaking 5 or 6 inches deep,
WHEAT
149
followed by thorough disking may give good re-
sults.
Writing on this subject Prof. Angus Mackay,
superintendent of the experimental farm for
southern Saskatchewan, discusses "breaking and
backsetting" as follows:
"Breaking and backsetting means the plowing
of the prairie sod as shallow as possible before the
June or early July rains are over, and in August
or September, when the sod will have become
thoroughly rotted by the rains and hot sun,
plowing two or three inches deeper in the same
direction and then harrowing to make a fine and
firm seed bed. From land prepared in this way
two good crops of wheat may be expected. The
first crop will be heavy and the stubble, if cut
high at harvest time, will retain sufficient snow to
Fig. 35. — A first-class job of breaking.
150 WHEAT
produce the moisture required, even in the driest
spring, to germinate the seed for the next crop.
The stubble-land can readily be burned on a day
in the spring with a warm, steady wind and the
seed may be sown with or without further cultiva-
tion. In a case where the grass roots have not
been entirely killed by the backsetting, a shallow
cultivation before seeding will be found advan-
tageous but as a rule the harrowing of the land with
a drag-harrow after seeding will be sufficient.
"The principal objection urged to 'breaking and
backsetting' is heavy work for the teams required
in backsetting, but if the disking required to
reduce deep-breaking and the other cultivation
that must be done to obtain a second crop,
be taken into consideration, it must be conceded
that in the end 'breaking and backsetting' is the
cheaper and better method.
" When two crops have been taken from new land
it should be summer-fallowed."
In his "Methods of Preparing Soil for Grain
Crops/' Professor MacKay says:
"In view of the .fact that every year brings
to the northwest many new settlers who are un-
acquainted with the methods of breaking up and
preparing new land for crops, a few suggestions
with regard to this important work may not be
amiss.
"In all sections where the sod is thick and
tough, breaking and backsetting should be done ;
while in the districts where bluffs abound and the
sod is thin, deep breaking is all that is necessary.
"The former is generally applicable to the
WHEAT 151
southern and western portions, and the latter to
the northeastern part of Saskatchewan, where
the land is more or less covered with bluffs."
"The sod should be turned over as thin as
possible, (2 to 3 inches deep). When the breaking
is completed (which should not be later than the
second week in July), rolling will hasten the rotting
process and permit backsetting to commence early
in August.
"Backsetting is merely turning the sod back
to its original place, and at the same time bringing
up two or three inches of fresh soil to cover it.
The plowing should be done in the same direction
as the breaking and the same width of furrow
turned. Two inches below the breaking is con-
sidered deep enough, but three to four inches will
give better results.
"After backsetting, the soil cannot be made too
fine, and the use of a disk or Randall harrow to
cut up every piece of unrotted sod, will complete
the work."
DEEP BREAKING
"Deep breaking, which in some sections of the
country is the only practicable way of preparing
new land, and which is, unfortunately, done in
some instances where 'breaking and backsetting'
would give much more satisfactory results, con-
sists in the turning over of the sod as deeply as
possible, usually from four to five inches. When
the sod has rotted, the top soil should be worked
and made as fine as possible. The use of the
harrow or disk will fill up all irregularities on the
surface and make a fine, even seed-bed.
152 WHEAT
"Whether the land is broken shallow or deep,
it is necessary to have the work completed early,
so as to take advantage of the rains which usually
come in June or early in July. These rains cause
the sod to rot, and without them, or if the plowing
is done after they are over, the sod remains in the
same condition as when turned, and no amount of
work will make up for the loss."
CLEAN SUMMER FALLOW
While there are some objections to summer
tilling land, such as soil drifting, overproduction
of straw in wet seasons and waste of soil fertility,
yet in a dry climate and a country given largely
to grain raising, there does not seem to be any
other practical method of keeping the land in
productive condition.
The principal advantages of summer tilling
are: The conservation of soil moisture, the eradica-
tion of weeds (the soil becomes foul with weeds by
continuous grain cropping), the preparation of
the land for wheat when other work is not pressing,
the availability of summer tilled land for early
spring seeding, and the ability to secure two good
crops after the fallow with only a small amount
of cultivation beside that required to complete
the fallow.
METHODS OF FALLOWING
Different methods are practiced in the prepara-
tion of fallow land. When the plan has been to con-
serve the June and July rains and prevent the
growth and seeding of weeds, success is almost
WHEAT 153
sure; but when the plowing is done late and cul-
tivation is neglected, failure is likely to result.
Writing on methods of summer fallowing,
Professor MacKay says in the report referred to
above :
"The true worth of properly prepared fallows
has been clearly demonstrated in past years in
every district of Saskatchewan.
"The work of preparing land for crop by fallow-
ing is carried on in so many ways in different parts
of the country, that perhaps a few words on some
of the methods employed may be of use to at least
some of the new settlers.
"It has been observed in some parts of Sas-
katchewan that the land to be fallowed is not, as
a rule, touched until the weeds are full grown and
in many cases, bearing fully matured seed. It is
then plowed.
" By this method, which no doubt saves work
at the time, the very object of a summer-fallow is
defeated. In the first place, moisture is not con-
served because the land has been pumped dry by
the heavy growth of weeds; and, secondly, in-
stead of using the summer-fallow as a means of
eradicating weeds, a foundation is laid for years
of labor and expense by the myriads of foul seeds
turned under.
"The endless fields of yellow-flowered weeds,
generally Ball Mustard (Neslia paniculata), testify
to the indifferent work done in many districts, and,
while no weed is more easily eradicated by a good
system of fallows, there is no weed that is more
easily propagated or takes greater advantage of
154 WHEAT
poor work on fallows or onfall or spring cultivation.
"Fallows that have been plowed for the first
time after the first of July, and especially after
July 15, have never given good results; and the
plan too frequently followed of waiting till weeds
are full grown, and often ripe, then plowing them
under with the idea of enriching the soil, is a
method that cannot be too earnestly condemned.
"In the first place, after the rains are over in
June or early in July, as they usually are, no
amount of work, whether deep or shallow plow-
ing, or surface cultivation, can put moisture into
the soil. The rain must fall on the first plowing
and be conserved by surface cultivation.
"Weeds, when allowed to attain their full
growth, take from the soil, all the moisture put
there by the June rains, and plowing under weeds
with their seeds ripe or nearly so, is adding a
thousand-fold to the myriads already in the soil,
and does not materially enrich the land.
"Packers are without doubt most useful imple-
ments on the farm and where from any cause, the
soil is loose, they should be used. They are,
however, expensive implements and within the
means of comparatively few of the new settlers.
Fortunately, early plowing and frequent shallow
cultivation may be depended upon to produce
almost equally satisfactory results in the majority
of cases."
CULTIVATION OF STUBBLE
"When farmers summer-fallow one-third of
their cultivated land each year, as they should,
one-half of each year's crop will be on stubble.
WHEAT 155
For wheat, the best preparation of this land is to
burn the stubble on the first warm, windy day in
the spring, and either cultivate shallow before
seeding or give one or two strokes of the harrow
after seeding, the object being to form a mulch to
conserve whatever moisture may be in the soil,
until the commencement of the June rains. "
FALL PLOWING
"With regard to fall plowing it may be said
that, as a rule, on account of short seasons and dry
soil, very little work can possibly be done in the
fall; but if the stubble-land is in a condition to
plow and the stubble is not too long, that portion
intended for oats and barley may be plowed, if
time permits.
"It is, however, a mistake to turn over soil in
a lumpy or dry condition, as nine times out of ten
it will remain in the same state until May or June,
with insufficient moisture to properly germinate
the seed, and the crop will very likely be overtaken
by frost."
The writer would suggest the discontinuing of
stubble burning as advocated by Professor
MacKay. Better disk thoroughly and ' leave
stubble on the field.
Professor MacKay urges strongly that "early
and thorough work on fallows is absolutely neces-
sary to success." He has tested several methods
and recommends as the best methods : Single deep
plowing, seven to eight inches deep, before the
last of June, followed by surface cultivation
during the growing season sufficient to destroy
156
WHEAT
weeds and conserve soil moisture. The next best
method and perhaps the best and cheapest in
some soils and some seasons is the "double plow-
ing method": plowing deep (6 to 8 inches) before
July 1, giving some surface cultivation during
July and August and plowing rather shallow,
(4 to 5 inches) immediately after harvest, after
which the soil should receive such harrowing and
packing as may be required to prepare a favorable
seed bed.
The author would suggest also the testing of
the listing method of preparing summer fallow
discussed in these pages (see page 000) and which
has been found so well adapted to dry farming con-
ditions in the western states, viz., substitute listing
in place of plowing in the "double plowing
method."
Fig. 36. — The far flung wheat fields of western Canada.
WHEAT 157
CHAPTER XIII
ROTATION OF CROPS
Clover and alfalfa are grown successfully in
eastern Canada and in southern Manitoba and
Saskatchewan as are also the grasses — western
rye grass, timothy and Bromus inermis. Alfalfa
may be grown successfully also, in western
Canada.
Wheat has given nearly as high yields at the
southern Saskatchewan experimental farm when
grown after field peas or sand vetch as when
planted on summer fallow. Actual tests at the
experimental farm at Indian Head, Saskatchewan,
show that the soil which had been cropped twenty-
two years with grains had lost nearly one-third
of its total nitrogen, determined to a depth of
eight inches, compared with the adjacent virgin
prairie. Doubtless as the land becomes older
the legume crops will be used more extensively
in rotation with wheat, and the peas and vetch
may be plowed under for green manure with
good results if the plowing is not done too late.
It is not advisable to plow the ground when very
dry and cloddy. For some time, while the land is
new, the occasional bare summer fallow will
doubtless be the most practicable rotation and give
the best results.
OTHER POINTS ON SEEDING SPRING WHEAT
It is important to seed wheat as early in the
spring as the soil and season will permit, in order
to insure maturing before frost. This will not
158 WHEAT
usually admit of spring plowing but compels fall
preparation of the soil and early spring disking
of stubble land.
The best and usual method is to drill the grain,
seeding quite shallow one and one-half to two and
one-half inches deep. The best amount of seed
to plant varies for the different areas and climates.
Six pecks per acre is a common amount to sow in
the eastern provinces, and four pecks per acre in
the drier western provinces. Less seed is required
on the drier lands. As little as two and three pecks
per acre is sometimes seeded on summer fallow, or
in a favorable seed bed.
CULTURE OF WINTER WHEAT
In his annual report for 1908 Prof. W. H. Fair-
field, superintendent of the southern Alberta
experimental farm, gives some suggestions and
information regarding the culture of winter wheat
as follows:
PREPARATION OF THE LAND
. " If sod is to be used, it should be broken in May
and June, while the soil is moist and before the
rainy season is over. May breaking usually gives
better results than June breaking. The sod
should be rolled or flattened down as fast as it is
broken to facilitate the rotting process. It is the
custom to break three and one-half to four inches
deep and prepare a seed bed by the use of a disk,
drag harrow and float. The float should be fol-
lowed immediately with the harrow, for evapora-
tion takes place very rapidly from the land when
WHEAT 159
the surface is left too smooth. If the floating is
done just before seeding, the seed-drill will, of
course, roughen the surface. A light harrowing
immediately after seeding is advisable.
BACKSETTING
" Although it is not customary to backset in
this district, it is a practice that cannot be too
highly recommended. When backsetting is to be
done, the sod should be broken as shallow as
practicable and immediately rolled or flattened
down by a weighted float. The earlier the break-
ing after the grass has started growth, the better
will be the results. In the latter part of July or
early in August the land is again plowed (with
stubble bottom plows), about two to three inches
deeper than it was broken. A seed bed can then
often be prepared by the use of the harrow only,
but a disk should be used if the condition of the
ground requires it. Special attention should be
called to the importance of harrowing each day's
plowing at night before leaving the field. If an
engine is used, the harrow should be attached to
the plow, or if horses are used on a sulky or gang
plow, one section of a harrow should be attached
so that the land is harrowed as fast as it is turned.
In fact, this practice of harrowing land immed-
iately after it is plowed should always be followed.
Too much stress cannot be laid on this point.
TIME TO SOW
"Although our results for this season would
indicate that September 1, is the best date to sow,
160 WHEAT
this is one of the questions that will require some
further years experience and observation before
a reliable opinion can be offered." (Later tests
gave results favoring earlier seeding, August 15 to
September 1, the best dates.)
QUANTITY OF SEED TO SOW
"This, as well as the proper time to sow, is a
point about which we have not sufficient data at
hand to draw very satisfactory conclusions. It is
reasonably safe to assume that thin sowing will
fill better in a dry season, while in a normal or
wet season, medium to heavy seedings will fill
equally well, besides producing a larger yield. It is
not wise to go to extremes either way. Thirty
to sixty pounds or forty-five to sixty pounds is
probably the approximate amount of seed to sow
per acre.
TREATING FOR SMUT
"Winter wheat should be treated for smut
just as conscientiously as is spring grain. Either
the formalin or bluestone method is satisfactory,
providing that the work is done carefully. Very
smutty grain should never be used for seed, for
even when treated thoroughly, some smut is apt
to appear in the resulting crop."
It is hardly possible to follow winter wheat with
winter wheat in Alberta since the harvest occurs
early in August, only a week or two before the
next crop should be seeded. It is almost necessary,
therefore, to seed on summer fallow, unless the
crop is sown on new breaking as heretofore dis-
WHEAT 161
cussed. This method insures a good yield al-
most every season.
HARVEST AND THRESHING
The wheat harvest season in Canada is neces-
sarily late, beginning the latter part of July in the
southern latitudes and continuing into September
in the more northern sections. Light frosts often
occur in August, but heavy damaging frosts do not
usually occur before early September. The
methods of harvesting are the same as in the
middle and western states. Both the header and
the binder are used, the binder being used exclu-
sively in the eastern provinces.
Threshing is accomplished by large steam driven
outfits, and continues late into the fall. In the
west straw is of little value and is usually burned
to get it out of the way.
The grain is handled in bulk through elevators
the same as in the western states. Most of the
surplus wheat and flour are shipped to Great
Britain. The total wheat export of Canada in
1911 was 60,474,020 bushels of wheat and 3,542,-
112 barrels of flour (equivalent to 15,939,558
bushels of wheat, (computing four and one-half
bushels to one barrel of flour) or a total export of
76,413,578 bushels of wheat. This is nearly equal
to the total wheat export of the United States
which was only 83,329,750 bushels in 1911 (in-
cluding 11,258,030 barrels of flour).
The shipping facilities are good considering the
vastness and newness of the country. Western
Canada is well supplied with railroads and the
11
162 WHEAT
storage capacity at the many railroad stations
has kept pace with the rapid increase in wheat
growing. Western Canada has three trunk lines
of railroad and these railroads have built thou-
sands of miles of branch lines and new roads are
still being built. The Canadian Northern will
soon complete a new line from northern Sas-
katchewan to Ft. Churchill on Hudson's Bay
with the purpose of opening a new water route to
Europe. The advantage of this Hudson's Bay route
can not be over-estimated. Ft. Churchill to
Liverpool is the same distance as New York to
Liverpool.
The thousands of miles of railroads and the
ever improving shipping facilities, the vast areas
of cheap lands, the remarkably fertile soil, the
progressive class of settlers who have taken up
these lands, (largely Americans from Iowa and
Minnesota and farmers from eastern Canada)
and the increasing number of new settlers who
continue to come each year give a very promising
outlook for the development of the wheat growing
industry of the great Canadian Northwest. This
development will do much towards relieving the
situation as regards the decreasing world's supply
of food over which some economists have worried
during the last few years.
WHEAT 163
CHAPTER XIV
SEEDING MACHINERY
There are two general methods of seeding
wheat, broadcasting and drilling. Broadcasting
is nature's method of distributing seed and was
the first method employed by man. The seed was
simply scattered by hand. Hand seeding is still
practiced in sowing grass and clover, but the hand
seeding of grain is largely a lost art in this country,
since machinery for this purpose makes the work
much easier and more rapid. In parts of Russia
and in other eastern countries, hand seeding is
still employed.
Drilling in shallow furrows made by a shoe or
disk is now recognized as the best method of
sowing wheat and most other small grains. Drill-
ing requires less seed than broadcasting because
the seed is more evenly distributed and more
uniformly covered. It is possible to deposit
the seed in the firm, moist soil which with the
even depth of planting results in a more rapid,
stronger and more uniform germination. Because
of the planting in furrows, drilling also, to some
extent, decreases the danger of injury by drouth,
winter killing and soil drifting.
BROADCAST SEEDING MACHINES
Broadcast seeding machines are of two general
classes:
1. The broadcast sowers which distribute the
grain by means of a rotating seed plate in the
bottom of a hopper which feeds the grain to the
164 WHEAT
plate at a uniform rate, from which it is thrown
by the rotating force in every direction. The
best machine of this type is the endgate seeder
which operates at the rear end of a wagon box
and is driven by a gear attached to the wagon
wheels. Two men and one team can sow fifty
to seventy-five acres per day with this machine.
2. The broadcast wheel seeder which is really
a long hopper, containing many spouts or seed
cups supported on wheels. In the early forms,
the grain was simply drawn through the spouts
or holes in the hopper by gravity and distributed
more or less uniformly over the ground beneath.
In the modern seeder the turning wheels drive
a force feed which carries the grain up from the
bottom of each seed cup and drops it regularly
onto a disk or inverted pan from which it is spread
quite uniformly in all directions by the force of
gravity.
Many seeders are provided with shovels which
drag through the soil thus covering the seed.
The wheel seeder is probably used more generally
today than the broadcast sower, but in the seeding
of wheat it has been largely succeeded by the drill.
DRILLING MACHINES
Contrary to the usual understanding, the grain
drill is a very old implement. The first historical
mention of grain seeders is by the historian Ardry,
who states that the Assyrians used grain drills
many centuries before Christ.
In 1730, Jethro Tull introduced the grain drill
into England. The first patent was granted on a
WHEAT 165
grain seeding machine in the United States in 1799.
The rotary seeder was introduced in 1856, the
grain drill in 1874.
The grain drill differs from the broadcast
seeder, (which feeds the seed onto a spreading pan
or oval disk which causes it to scatter broadcast
over the ground, when it is covered by the shovels
or hoes which follow in the rear of the machine),
in that the seed falls into a grain tube and is
carried in a steady stream to the bottom of the
furrow made by the shoe or disk, where it is
covered by the drag chain or press wheels which
follow the shoe or disk furrow openers. Thus the
grain is planted in straight rows or drills in the
firm moist soil on the floor of the small furrows
and evenly and regularly covered with mellow or
pressed soil as may be desired.
DEVELOPMENT OF FORCE FEED
The development of the grain drill has been
rapid. The old gravity feed has been replaced by
the force feed. The original method was to allow
the seed to run out through a hole in the bottom
of the seed cup. An agitator kept the grain
stirred so that it might feed regularly through the
openings which could be regulated in size by
moving a slide. It was not possible to sow very
evenly with such a drill since the jar of the machine
as the wheels passed over clods or obstructions
caused the seed to run irregularly.
The force feed raises the grain above the bottom
of the seed cups and forces it out at a regular rate
by means of grooved wheels or grain pinions
166 WHEAT
which are driven by a small revolving shaft con-
nected with the main shaft by sprocket gears or
chains. The rate of seeding is regulated by in-
creasing or decreasing the width of the opening
through which the grain is forced or by changing
the speed of the grain pinions by a gear adjust-
ment.
The modern force feed drill does its work very
accurately, and a good drill may be adjusted and
set to sow very evenly a definite amount of grain
per acre.
THREE FORMS OF GRAIN DRILLS
The modern wheat drill is made in three general
forms: 1. Hoe drills. 2. Shoe drills. 3. Disk
drills. Disk drills are divided into two general
classes: Single disk drills and double disk drills.
The shoe and disk drills may have press wheels
attached in the rear to cover and press the soil
over the seed, or more commonly short chains
are used which drag the loose earth into the fur-
rows and thus cover the seed.
The hoe drills, which were the first type manu-
factured, open the furrow with a shovel or point
which is dragged through the soil and forced down
by pressure springs. These drills give heavy draft
and tend to gather trash and clog.
The shoe drill is an advantage over the hoe
drill in that the shovel is replaced by a sharpened
runner or shoe which cuts into the soil, opening a
V shaped furrow. The shoe drill runs lighter
and tends to draw over the rubbish to some extent
and does not gather trash as badly as the hoe
WHEAT 167
drill. It is a good drill in a clean well prepared
seed bed.
The disk drill has the advantage of the shoe
drill as a trash rider, since in place of the shoe
a revolving disk rolls through the soil, riding over
or cutting under trash and opening a neat furrow
in which the seed is deposited. The disk drill
draws a little lighter than the shoe drill and has
a special advantage in trashy land or hard ground.
The double disk does nice work in well prepared
land which is not too hard or trashy, but the
single disk is superior in hard or trashy ground.
As a general drill for use on all kinds of ground
the writer prefers a good single disk drill, but the
double disk drill and shoe drill have some ad-
vantages for shallow seeding, as in sowing alfalfa
or grasses, since their depth of seeding may be
better controlled.
Drills are manufactured which make the furrows
5, 6, 7 and 8 inches apart. When the shoes or
disks are seven to eight inches apart the machine
is less likely to clog. The standard drills more
commonly used make furrows six or seven inches
apart.
Drills and seeders are made in standard widths
varying from eight to fourteen feet. Single drills,
three feet wide, for sowing wheat between the
rows of corn are also in common use. In the
Red River valley four and six horse machines
having a width of eleven or twelve feet are used.
One man with a good team can sow thirty acres
per day with one of these large machines.
Grain drills may be purchased with grass seeder
168
WHEAT
attachments, when the grass and clover seed may
be sown at the same time the grain is seeded. The
grass seeder usually scatters the seed broadcast
either before or after the opening of the furrows, as
preferred. The writer prefers an attachment by
which the grass seed may be run through a tube
into the drill furrow, thus alfalfa or grasses may
be seeded alone in drill rows and the depth of
seeding regulated.
Modern drills may also be provided with attach-
ments for distributing fertilizers at the same time
that the grain is sown. There are several differ-
ent styles used and most of them do satisfactory
work. The writer rather prefers to have a separate
machine for distributing fertilizers. A lime
spreader will do the work and is needed on many
farms on which the soil is becoming "worn" and
"sour."
A Sender Talented iu
APPENDIX
INDIVIDUAL PRACTICES
Seager Wheeler of Rosthern, Saskatchewan,
who received the prize of $1,000 at the land show
in New York for the best bushel of wheat, giving
his experience under Canadian conditions, says:
"At the time of taking up the matter of seed
selection I was growing the ordinary Preston
wheat which was not fixed to a distinct type. This
wheat at the time was a mixture of reddish and
white chaff, also was straw colored and red. The
first year I eliminated the white chaff variety.
This fixed the color of the chaff but I still had to
separate the red grain from the yellow in order
to fix the color. It is not necessary now to do this
work as the beginner can secure pure-bred seed
to start with.
"All this work in selecting by hand would be of
little benefit if the seed bed were neglected. It
would be folly to sow good seed on a poorly
worked or weedy seed bed. Therefore, it is highly
important to have the seed bed in good condition.
The two together make for improvement in both
quality and yield. Such seed should be grown on
breaking, summer fallow, or root land.
"I will now outline my method of preparing
summer fallow. The land should be disked or
shallow plowed in the fall, the season before. I
prefer the shallow plowing — at a depth of two
inches, followed by packing to start weed growth
in the spring. In the spring if possible, it should
be given a stroke of the harrows to break up the
172 APPENDIX
crust that will form after the snow is gone. As soon
as possible after seeding time it should be plowed
deep, care being taken that the furrow is well
turned down. I use a home-made roller behind
my gang plow. This packs down the furrow and
holds the moisture. I would advise every farmer
to put on a pulverizer attachment behind the
plow. By this operation my plowing is rolled
immediately to conserve the moisture. The plow
is followed by a surface packer to pack it down
more. After it is packed I use a plank drag similar
to what is called the King Drag or road drag.
This is made with two two by eight planks nine
feet long, placed on edge three feet apart, the
ends overlapping one foot. Pieces two by six
are mortised in to hold the planks in place. On
these boards are nailed for the driver to stand on.
It is operated at a slight angle. The driver should
stand on it to do good work, and by shifting his
position on the drag the angle may be altered to
suit. The drag is operated up the right hand side
of the field, crossing at the end and following
down by the first dead furrow, doing the field in
sections to avoid waste of time crossing the ends.
The reason for using the drag is that I want to
level up the field and put the surface in a uniform
condition. Should a rain come shortly after, it is
surprising to see how weeds will germinate. Rain
penetrates readily when land is in this condition.
"As soon as possible after a rain, while the soil
is moist (not wet not dry) it should be harrowed.
If disking is necessary during the summer the
drag (plank) will put it in uniform condition again,
APPENDIX
173
174 APPENDIX
levelling any ridges. Cultivation should be kept
up to kill weeds and conserve moisture. The next
spring you will have a firm seed bed in a uniform
condition. When the seeder goes on a field like
this you will notice the benefit of the plank
dragging. The seed bed is uniform and the drill
plants the seeds at a uniform depth. The surface
packer follows the drill, not for the purpose of
packing the root bed but to pack the moist soil
around the seed to hasten germination. This is
followed by the harrows. After the grain is up
four to six inches I harrow to cultivate and kill
any weeds. The harrows I use are home-made for
the purpose. They are light and do good work.
The object is to keep the grain growing by culti-
vating it.
"I also use the plank drag on breaking as well
as on fall and spring plowing. In plowing in the
spring for a crop I follow the same method, using
the packer after the plow. Then comes the drag,
then the seeder followed by the packer, and then
the harrows. This insures getting the seed in a
firm seed bed while moist. Cultivation can be
done after it is seeded. Fall plowing also is treated
according to the same method of preparing the
seed bed.
"In my opinion it is a mistake to seed fall
plowing early in the spring. It should be given
a stroke of the harrows to conserve moisture and
allow weeds to germinate. It can be sown later
on, as fall plowing generally matures a crop faster
than spring plowing, breaking or summer fallow.
I would sow breaking first and summer fallow
APPENDIX 175
next, and then do some spring plowing before
sowing fall plowing. Many farmers make the
mistake of sowing fall plowing first and then
wonder why the crop is light and weedy.
" I do not claim that my method is the best that
can be followed but the principle remains, that
whatever method is adopted I am a firm believer
in the plank drag before the seeder.
"The most important point to insure a good
quality of grain and increased yield is to sow
good seed in a good seed bed and have uniformity.
All these three go hand-in-hand — you cannot
separate them.
"By good seed I mean seed of a pure variety,
well cleaned and free from broken grains, small
grains, light grains, or immature grains, as well
as weed seeds, so that the result is uniform seed.
A good seed bed is one that is well prepared, as
outlined above, giving a uniform depth, insuring
uniform germination, uniform growth, uniform
heading out, uniform ripening, uniform grain for
the binder to operate on, uniform sheaves, less
waste in cutting, a uniform surface for the binder
to run on and make nicely bound sheaves. You
also have uniform grain of a uniform quality.
Besides, when the plow goes on the land again it
runs more smoothly and turns a furrow at a uni-
form depth. Therefore, uniformity plays a most
important part, no matter what methods are
adopted.
"I wish again to lay stress on the use of the
plank drag. I would not care to farm without it.
If I could follow out my own inclination I would
176 APPENDIX
follow the plow with a subsurface packer to pack
down the furrow slice, using the surface packer
after the seeder, principally to pack the soil
around the seed. Years ago I used to harrow
behind the plow in the spring, and harrow and
harrow, and then wonder why the stools would
turn yellow and die down in a hot spell in July.
It also seemed strange that some of the grain
would germinate at once and some come up later
after the first rain, resulting in uneven growth.
My object now is to sow the seed while the seed
bed is moist and cultivate afterward. I know of
no better method than that which I have out-
lined. At least it has always given good results
with me. When I find a better way I will change
my system of farming.
"I have seen men who would go out in the
spring and plow after a fall of snow while the snow
lay on the ground. After the grain was up I have
walked over their fields sinking ankle deep in
dry dust. Such crops as these suffer in every dry
spell.
"Many farmers make great blunders in regard
to depth of burying their seed. With a seed bed
prepared, as I have outlined and on soil such as
we have to deal with, I have concluded that one
to one and a half inches is the proper depth for
wheat on summer fallow as well as on thoroughly
prepared new breaking or fall plowing. For spring
plowing the best depth is about two inches. The
important consideration is the moisture line.
Plant the seed just below the moisture line and
then pack to insure quick germination.
APPENDIX 177
"The prize wheat was sown on April 21 and cut
on August 28. After sowing it was packed. When
the grain was up four to six inches high it was
harrowed by the light harrows for the purpose of
cultivation. The growth was vigorous and strong.
I may say that I always harrow growing grain
whenever possible. The main thing is to have a
solid seed bed and uniform surface. I run the
harrows with the drill rows on a hot, dry day to
kill weeds. Such harrowing does not injure the
grain. On a loose seed bed, however, harrows
might smother some grain and also pull some out.
It is giving attention to small details that counts
whether we are growing grain for market, for seed,
or for exhibition purposes — attention to every
detail in preparing the seed and the seed bed,
treatment for smut and in the cleaning process.
"Every farmer should be particular to sow
only the best seed; he should take care that the
seeder is cleaned before putting in another variety
or another kind of grain. Clean off the binder
to every straw when entering on a field of grain of
another variety. Such time cannot be counted
as lost, but rather as gained."
12
178 APPENDIX
II
WHEAT THAT WON THE WORLD'S PRIZE IN 1913
The wheat that won the world's prize at the
Dry Farming Congress held at Tulsa, Oklahoma
in 1913 was grown by Paul Gerlach, Allan,
Saskatchewan. In addition to the various quali-
ties that gave this wheat the prize it was remark-
able in that it broke the world's record in weight,
weighing seventy-one pounds to the bushel. A
statement of how this wheat was grown including
the steps taken in the preparation of the soil
as well as those in breeding up the seed follows.
"I am asked to what I attribute my success
in growing the wheat that took the world's prize
at the Tulsa Dry Farming Congress. Replying
I should say to good seed and to feeding the plants
well. How the seed was originally secured, later
improved and finally how the soil was tilled shall
relate.
"Marquis is a hybrid, having been produced by
crossing Red Fife with Red Hard Calcutta, and
the product carefully selected, under the guidance
of Dr. Saunders at Ottawa. The advantage
Marquis possesses over Red Fife, is about eight
to ten days earlier maturity, and about six bushels
more per acre. The straw is very strong, of
medium length and the bald heads well chaffed.
As to milling value it is fully equal to Red Fife.
Now that Marquis has thrice in succession won
the World's Championship, there can be no doubt
as to its superiority.
APPENDIX 179
"I came from Detroit, Michigan, seven years
ago, and located on a homestead eight miles
south of Allan. I learned after a few years farm-
ing, that there wa? some danger of a possible
early frost damaging the wheat, particularly if
grown on heavy soil and sown late. I noticed
an article in a farm journal telling of the qualities
of Marquis. I sent for five pounds, the quantity
allowed each farmer, and persuaded a few friends
to secure an equal amount and pass the same on
to me. In that manner I received fifteen pounds,
which I sowed on breaking. The product I
threshed with a flail to assure purity. The next
year I sowed the wheat on summer fallow, and
during the growing season I culled out bearded
heads, other grains, also any stray noxious weeds.
This plan I followed each succeeding year, using
great care in threshing to avoid mixing.
"My 1911 crop was particularly fine, and a
sample shown at the Provincial Seed Fair, secured
the championship, scoring ninety-nine points,
weighing sixty-six and one-half pounds, ranking
highest in purity and second in milling value in
its class.
"The next year my exhibit at the same Fair
was awarded second prize, scoring 94| points,
ranking first in purity and milling value.
METHOD OF SEED SELECTION
"After winning the Provincial Championship,
I wrote to Dr. Saunders asking him for a small
amount of a superior strain of Marquis, if he had
one, as I wished to get the best available. I also
180 APPENDIX
told him what I had done and the result. He
advised me to select from my own, as there was
no better to be obtained. I then selected a bushel
of the choicest kernels, which were sown in our
garden. After the plants were headed out, I
carefully culled out all plants not to my fancy.
I did this at least a dozen times. The product
of this plot, I recleaned and sowed on summer-
tilled soil and again the culling process was re-
sorted to. I can assure you I felt a thrill of joy
as I rode the binder while cutting this field, the
straw had just a tinge of green and the grains
were quite firm. I had sown a bushel to the acre,
and the yield was thirty-seven bushels.
"It became evident that I could not get a
machine to thresh my crop very early, so I hauled
several loads of sheaves to the barn, the remainder
was left in the stook or stack. It was the wheat
stored in the barn that won at Tulsa, Oklahoma,
weighing slightly over seventy-one pounds to
the bushel, which I understand is a world's
record.
"The other wheat was threshed late, causing
a loss of several bushels per acre and of a somewhat
bleached sample, which, however, would not im-
pair its value for seed.
"I am still further improving my wheat by
hand selection. While culling over the small
field above mentioned, I noticed some plants
showing a superiority over the others, the heads
were nearly square, filled from end to end with
large kernels. I spent three days selecting a sack
full of these heads which I threshed in a bag to
APPENDIX 181
avoid any possible mixture. Last spring I sowed
this seed in the garden and after the plants were
headed, I weeded out any heads not true to the
type I desired. As soon as the grain was ripe I
selected a sack full of heads conforming to my
ideal. These will be threshed and sown next
year. I shall continue improving my wheat if
such is possible.
I FOLLOW THE CAMPBELL SYSTEM
"Now as to how I till the soil. My main effort
is to conserve moisture, in this I try to follow the
Campbell system of soil culture, (Campbell Soil
Culture Co., Lincoln, Nebraska). Our soil is a
moderately heavy chocolate clay loam and works
up nicely if done at the proper time. In preparing
summer fallow, I prefer starting the year before,
by following the binder with a disk harrow, disking
the stubble as soon as the grain is cut, keeping
far enough away from the standing grain to permit
the large wheel of the binder to travel on solid
ground. As long as the straw is standing it acts as
a blanket on the earth preventing evaporation to
a large extent. As soon as the straw is removed
the protection is gone and sun and wind soon
dry out the surface. By disking as stated, I
gain in various ways. First, I break up the cap-
illarity of the surface soil to prevent the loss of
moisture through evaporation. Second, the soil
is in splendid shape to receive a rain and permit
the water to enter the soil quickly and to
escape through evaporation very slowly. Third,
by thoroughly mixing stubble, weeds, roots,
182 APPENDIX
straw, etc., with the soil, the surface two
inches or more, when turned under with
a plow, will produce a fine root bed, whereas if
all this material were left, as is often the case
on most farms, without disking, the dry earth,
stubble, etc., would be turned under all in one
mass, causing an open dry, condition which must
be an inhospitable home for the roots of plants.
Water from below the depth of the furrow cannot
reach the roots, neither can the roots reach the
water. As soon as the moisture in the surface
soil is exhausted the plants suffer. Fourth, by
covering weed seeds at this time, many will be
started to grow and freeze during the winter.
Those that do not die, or those that fail to grow
during the autumn, will grow early the next spring
and are then cared for.
"I do not recommend burning the stubble,
unless there is too much of it to disk under. In
cases where a large amount of stubble is present
and many noxious weeds as well, I would certainly
resort to burning. I desire to put back into the
land as much humus as I can. By destroying
the stubble by fire, you do not improve your soil.
HOW SUMMER TILLING IS DONE
"After seeding is finished in the spring, I disk
the land to be summer tilled. This will kill many
weeds and cause others to grow; it also opens the
soil to receive and retain the rains. As soon as
the weeds have started growing, I begin plowing.
I turn a furrow of about six inches, and shall go
a little deeper each year until a sufficient depth
APPENDIX
183
.2
•s-
bfi
£
184 APPENDIX
is reached. I follow with the subsurface packer
every half day. This I consider important as
the soil is then in splendid shape to be packed,
it is soft and pliable, air spaces are crowded out,
capillarity is re-established and plant food is
being manufactured. I harrow each day's plow-
ing before night to conserve what moisture I have.
After each rain that settles the mulch sufficiently
to permit the capillary movement of the water
to the surface, I go over the field with the acme
harrow, this kills weeds and produces a perfect
mulch. I desire to keep the soil as black as pos-
sible during the season, if weeds are allowed to
grow they take away the moisture intended for
the wheat.
LIGHT SEEDING AND HARROWING
"On the field that produced the wheat shown
at Tulsa, I sowed one bushel per acre, to a depth
of three inches, well into the moist soil and just
below the mulch. I do not recommend that
amount on all soils or under all conditions. The
seed was treated with formalin by means of an
immersion bath. After drilling, the ground was
packed with a corrugated packer, this pressed
the soil particles close to the grain, bringing mois-
ture to them, resulting in an even germination.
By firming the surface, the moisture was brought
from the lower, into the upper soil, causing any
weed seeds that were near the surface to grow
and these were harrowed out just as the wheat
emerged above the ground. I use a lever harrow
with the teeth set at an angle of about forty-five
APPENDIX 185
degrees. When the wheat had attained a height
of about four inches, a rain fell which settled the
mulch, and the day following we again harrowed
the field, getting rid of many weeds and re-
establishing the mulch to conserve moisture and
allow a more perfect circulation of air in the soil.
There was nothing further done until the heads
were visible. I then hired a man and it became
his duty to cull out any plants not true to type,
other grains, or noxious weeds, in fact, I do this
with all my fields.
"I am convinced that if farmers understood
the controlling of moisture and the manufacture
of plant food better, there would be less crop
failures. Let me draw a simile: Suppose I were
to live entirely on broth. I would place a vessel
containing water over a fire, and in it a quantity
of meat, preferably cut into smaller pieces. The
chemical change now taking place in the water
would be caused by heat. The heated water
extracts the nutriment from the meat. The
longer the extracting process goes on, the stronger
becomes the broth, the less of it I would require
to satisfy my bodily need. A small amount of
the concentrated broth would be as nourishing
as a large amount of the weaker.
"Now, how is that simile applied to soil culture
and plant growth? If I mix the stubble, straw,
manure and so forth with the surface soil, then
turn it into the bottom of the furrow and pack
it down well, I crowd out all air spaces and bring
moisture to the material I turned under, which
causes it to decay — forming plant food. By
186 APPENDIX
harrowing after each rain of any consequence I
prevent the escape of moisture. By plowing
early in the season (for summer fallow) I have my
food factory at work a long time, and under the
effect of the heat caused by the summer's sun,
a large amount of plant food is extracted from the
material plowed down or from the soil particles
and held in soluble form, which is the only form in
which plants can partake of the food. The richer
the food, the less each plant requires.
" I tilled the soil which produced the prize wheat
as nearly as possible along the lines I have in-
dicated, and by sowing only a bushel to the acre,
did not crowd the plants, but each had a full
supply of rich food, the result was, the world's
best and heaviest wheat, over seventy-one pounds
to the bushel. The 1911 Prize Wheat weighed
sixty-five, the 1912, sixty-four.
"I was greatly pleased at my wheat winning,
but I have greater pride in the knowledge that
the seed that produced the wheat has been brought
to such a state of perfection on our own farm,
after years of painstaking effort, under the joint
care of my wife and myself. I give full credit
to her for her share."
APPENDIX 187
III
HOW TO RUN A BINDER
The best machine ever made is worthless in
the hands of the man who has not sufficient
knowledge of its mechanism to adjust it properly
and to care for and repair it. The folio wing advice
on how to run a binder by Persey Wastle and
published in the SCIENTIFIC FARMER is so full
of practical hints that it is reproduced verbatim.
It seems that there is a dearth of advice in our
agricultural papers concerning the operating of
farm machinery, excepting probably, the gasoline
engine. We read a great deal of how to take care
of our implements when not working, such as
oiling them and putting them away under cover,
all of which is very important, but I think a few
pointers on how to run them when in the field
would not come amiss.
I wish to deal with the self binder, one of the
most ingenious, and also one of the greatest labor
saving machines in existence. We will suppose
the grain is nearly ripe; so we will pull the binder
out of the shed, where it has been carefully housed
since last harvest, though this is rarely the case
in the west. I have generally noticed them, or
at least all one could see of them for weeds,
standing in the corners of the fields, where they
were left the year before.
The first thing to do is to go all over the binder
with a wire pick, and clean the oil holes. It is
advisable while doing this to notice if there are
any broken parts, so they can be sent to town for
188 APPENDIX
immediate repair. Next, the bearings must be
well oiled, so the oil will have a chance to get
worked into the bearings.
If the knife is still in the binder, it should now
be pulled and sharpened, if it is a plain one,
or if a rough edge sickle broken sections should
be knocked off and replaced by new ones.
The canvases should now be overhauled.
Buckles, straps and slats should be replaced where
they are broken or worn out. Patches should be
sown on the holes, as here is where a great deal
of trouble is often met with. Leaves and straws
go through the holes and wrap around the rollers.
This makes the roller too large, and thus jambs
the canvas against the frame of the machine,
causing the canvas to stop, sometimes tearing
off slats or buckles. Before putting on the canvas,
be sure that all rollers run free, and also that the
frames are square. The canvas will not run true
if they are not, but will run towards one corner.
This, of course, will tear them.
In order to make the frame true, take a car-
penter's square; hold the long end against the
frame, the other against the roller. You will
then see exactly how much they are out, and by
screwing up the truss rods correct the fault.
The reel is one of the most important parts of the
binder, yet few farmers seem to think so, judging
by the way they have it tied up with binder twine,
wire, etc. Unless there is a good reel on a binder,
it will not make a good sheaf. The shape of
a sheaf is determined by the way the grain is
laid on the platform canvas. Unless the reel is
perfectly true, it will not lay the grain so that
APPENDIX 189
a good sheaf can be made of it. In order to ac-
complish this, each slat of the reel must be par-
allel to the platform; that is both ends must be
parallel to the platform. Also one end must not
be ahead of the other.
We now have everything ready to start. The
horses are hitched on and away we go to the field.
Well, the sheaves are considered too small; we
must make them larger. I think I have heard
about a dozen different ways to accomplish this,
and there are but three. The simplest way is to
tighten up the screw on the trip. If this is not
enough, lower the trip; and still another way is
to slide the sheaf holder in towards the binder.
This gives the grain less leverage on the trip,
and thus makes a larger bundle. These methods
apply to one of our own best known makes of
binders.
Now that we have the sheaf adjusted to the
required size, everything ought to go lovely.
But troubles never come singly. The binder is
missing sheaves. What now? Get a monkey
wrench and tighten or loosen something on the
knotter mechanism? No, certainly not; not
until we find what the trouble is. First go to the
twine box; ascertain if the twine is running freely.
If all is well here, follow up the twine and see if
the binder is threaded rightly. "Next try the ten-
sion. If the tension is too tight, this will make
the knotter miss, as it is liable to pull the twine
out of the twine holder or disk. If not tight
enough, the machine will also miss. If the twine
is running right, the tension right, the binder
190 APPENDIX
threaded all right, then the trouble must be at
the knotter. Now it is no use looking at the knot-
ter because unless it is badly out of tune, it looks
the same whether it is in perfect working order
or not. Then what are we to do? We must
look at the twine, when the binder misses, and
ascertain what it is doing. If the twine is cut
off square with the curl at the end, we may be
certain that the disk or twine holder is not tight
enough. By tightening this up very little at a
time, we will eventually remedy the trouble.
If, on the other hand, the twine is pulled off to a
point, the disk is too tight and is cutting the twine.
By slacking the disk, this can be corrected. To
ascertain if there is anything wrong with the bill-
book, examine a sheaf that it tied. If the knot
is pulled very tight and the ends of the twine
frayed away, the billhook is too tight. If the
knot is very slack and near the ends of the twine,
the billhook is too slack. When oiling the ma-
chine, examine the needle to find if any foreign
leaves or other matter has gathered in the eye;
sometimes obstructions become wedged in so
tightly that the twine will not run through, caus-
ing the knotter to miss sheaves.
Always run the binder as nearly level as possible.
Never have it tilted back, as this will make it
hard to pull; have it tilted forward enough to
make it balance a little down in front. If it is
thrown too much forward, it causes too much
weight on the horses' necks, or, if there is a truck,
too much weight on the little wheels, thus taking
the driving power off the main wheel.
APPENDIX
191
If the binder suddenly sticks, never whip up
the horses to start it. Get off and find the trouble.
Probably a stick or root has got into the knife
or a nut has dropped off somewhere and got be-
tween two cog wheels. When these things are
cleared away, you may get on the machine and
start away again.
Run the reel as high as possible without letting
any grain fall forward, and always tie the sheaf
as near the center as possible.
After the first half day a person should exper-
ience very Itttle trouble in running a binder. In
fact, if a binder is well cared for each year, it
will start off without any trouble.
Fig. 39. — A field of Marquis wheat.
INDEX
A
Acme harrow, 143
Alaska wheat, 21
Alberta Red wheat, 142, 143
Alfalfa as a fertilizer, 112
B
Backsetting, 148, 149, 151, 159
Binder, how to operate, 187
Bluestem wheat, 22
Breaking prairie sod, 148; deep breaking, 151
California, methods of farming in, 123; old methods, 124
Campbell packer, 44
Campbell system, 181
Canada, culture methods in, 146; development of, 14; part
of Great Plains, 134; rainfall in, 137; soil of, 135; wheat
areas, 138; wheat production, 12
Capillarity, how to restore, 46
Cereals of America, 6; world's production, 9, 10
Chinch bug, 92, 94
I Climate, influence of, 32; wheat requirements, 38
Club Head wheat, 22, 23; on Pacific coast, 129
Combine, 73, 74; where used, 74; in California, 121
Community seed, 36
Cost of production, 88; in different countries, 89; on Pacific
coast, 133
Cultivation, after seeding, 65, 184; shallow furrow, 57
D
Disk cultivator, 48
Durum wheat, 22, 23, 25; in Canada, 141
E
Egyptian wheat, 21
Elevators, co-operative, 87; independent, 85
Embryo, 19
Endosperm, 19
F
Fertilization, green manure, 117; manure, 115; summer
fallowing, 117; use of straw, 114
Fertilizers needed by wheat, 108
Formaldehyde for stinking smut, 96; a poison, 97
INDEX 193
G
Ghirka wheat, 22
Grading of wheat, 85
Grain, color, 19; physical parts, 19; variation in size, 19
Grain weevil, 95
Green manuring, effect of, 119; at Fort Hays station, 117
H
Harvest, 70; date of, 72; in Canada, 161; methods of, 73
Header, 72
Hessian fly, 59, 92, 94
Hopkins, opinion of, 112
Individual practices, 169
Inspection of wheat, 86, local grains, 86
K
Kharkof wheat, 29, 142, 143
L
Legumes as fertilizers, 112; in rotation, 39
Listing, 17; advantages of method, 49; contour, 51; depth of,
49; for wheat, 47; effect on yield, 52
M
Macaroni wheat, 25, 26
Marketing of wheat, 81, 82; prices, 84; tricks of, 84
Marquis wheat, 179
Mixed farming, system of, 107
N
Nitrogen in soil, 110; in clover crop, 113; in roots of alfalfa,
112 .
P
Pacific coast, wheat growing on, 122
Packing with subsurface packer, 56
Pasturing wheat, 67, 68
Plant food, amount removed by wheat, 113; constituents of,
110; development of, 41; digestion of, 41; made available,
41
Plowing, 43; deep, 47; fall, 155; in California, 128; shallow,
54
x Prize wheat 1911, 177; of 1913, 178
X R
Red Fife wheat, 22; early maturing, 40; origin of, 139
Rolling wheat, 67
Root system of wheat, 16, 37
Rotation of crops to prevent drifting, 55; influence on wheat
yields, 108; in Canada, 157; plans of, 102; for semi-arid
land, 104
Rust of wheat, 95
194 INDEX
s
Saunders, work of, 143
Scoring wheat, 90; score card, 91
Seed, adaptation of, 29; breeding, 32; cleaning and grading,
30; germination of, 16
Seed bed, firming of, 44; physical condition, 42; requirements,
40, 175
Seeding, depth of, 62; early, 59; methods of, 60; thickness of,
61, 184
Seeding machinery, 163; broadcast seeder, 163; drills, 164,
165; disk drill, 167; forms of drills, 166
Shocking, 75; kinds of shocks, 76
Shrinkage of grain, 82
Smut, damage from, 95; treatment of, 31, 96; hot water treat-
ment, 98; loose smut, 97
Soil drifting, how to prevent, 55, 56; deep furrows, 58
Soil fertility, how maintained, 100; cause of loss, 101
Soil moisture, 45, 46; conservation of, 129, 153, 154
Soil mulch, 44
Soil required by wheat, 38
Spring mowing, 69
Spring wheat, 11; on fallow land, 50
Stacking, 77; how to begin, 78; how to complete, 79; not when
damp, 81
Subsurface packer, 44; Dunham packer, 47
Summer fallow, 51; clean summer fallow, 152; cultivation of,
174; in regions of light rainfall, 152; methods of, 53
Summer tilling, 49, 54, 55; in Canada, 182; in California, 125
T
Threshing directly from the shock, 81; from the field, 83
Trap crops, 94
Turkey Red wheat, 22, 29, 30
W
Washington, culture methods in, 127
Weeds, 92
Wheat, countries, 11; chemical composition of, 28; flower
and fruit, 16; hard wheat, 25; milling varieties, 23;
Russian, 31; soft wheat, 24; stooling, 17; types of, 21;
varieties, 20.
Wheat-sick land, 102
Winter killing on drilled land, 60; causes of, 63, 64; to prevent,
65
Winter wheat, 11; followed by potatoes, 60; on Pacific coast,
131; preparation of land for, 158; quantity of seed, 160;
time to sow, 160; varieties in Canada, 142
Y
Yields of wheat, cause of low yields, 70
Z
Zavitz, work of, 144
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