Quantity to sow

Numerous dry-farm failures may be charged wholly to ignorance concerning the quantity of seed to sow.  In no other practice has the custom of humid countries been followed more religiously by dry-farmers, and failure has nearly always resulted.  The discussions in this volume have brought out the fact that every plant of whatever character requires a large amount of water for its growth.  From the first day of its growth to the day of its maturity, large amounts of water are taken from the soil through the plant and evaporated into the air through the leaves.  When the large quantities of seed employed in humid countries have been sown on dry lands, the result has usually been an excellent stand early in the season, with a crop splendid in appearance up to early summer. .A luxuriant spring crop reduces, however, the water content of the soil so greatly that when the heat of the summer arrives, there is not sufficient water left in the soil to support the final development and ripening.  A thick stand in early spring is no assurance to the dry-farmer of a good harvest.  On the contrary, it is usually the field with a thin stand in spring that stands up best through the summer and yields most at the time of harvest.  The quantity of seed sown should vary with the soil conditions:  the more fertile the soil is, the more seed may be used; the more water in the soil, the more seed may be sown; as the fertility or the water content diminishes, the amount of seed should likewise be diminished.  Under dry-farm conditions the fertility is good, but the moisture is low.  As a general principle, therefore, light seeding should be practiced on dry-farms, though it should be sufficient to yield a crop that will shade the ground well.  If the sowing is done early, in fall or spring, less seed may be used than if the sowing is late, because the early sowing gives a better chance for root development, which results, ordinarily, in more vigorous plants that consume more moisture than the smaller and weaker plants of later sowing.  If the winters are mild and well covered with snow, less seed may be used than in districts where severe or open winters cause a certain amount of winter-killing.  On a good seed-bed of fallowed soil less seed may be used than where the soil has not been carefully tilled and is somewhat rough and lumpy and unfavorable for complete germination.  The yield of any crop is not directly proportional to the amount sown, unless all factors contributing to germination are alike.  In the case of wheat and other grains, thin seeding also gives a plant a better chance for stooling, which is Nature’s method of adapting the plant to the prevailing moisture and fertility conditions.  When plants are crowded, stooling cannot occur to any marked degree, and the crop is rendered helpless in attempts to adapt itself to surrounding conditions.