The operations included in cutting, housing, drying, shipping, sweating, and packing require skill and practice.
SECTION XXXVII. WHEAT
Fig. 192. A Hand
Wheat has been cultivated from earliest times. It was a chief crop in Egypt and Palestine, and still holds its importance in the temperate portions of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and America.
Fig. 193. Wheat Heads
This crop ranks third in value in the United States. It grows in cool, in temperate, and in warm climates, and in many kinds of soil. It does best in clay loam, and worst in sandy soils. Clogged and water-soaked land will not grow wheat with profit to the farmer; for this reason, where good wheat-production is desired the soil must be well drained and in good physical condition—that is, the soil must be open, crumbly, and mellow.
Clay soils that are hard and lifeless can be made valuable for wheat-production by covering the surface with manure, by good tillage, and by a thorough system of crop-rotation. Cowpeas and other legumes make a most valuable crop to precede wheat, for in growing they add atmospheric nitrogen to the soil, and their roots loosen the root-bed, thereby admitting a free circulation of air and adding humus to the soil. Moreover, the legumes leave the soil with its grains fairly close packed, and this is a help in wheat growing.
