154 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ten days ahead of the latest, while each sowmg should last 

 about a week. 



As soon as the heads are at their full height, and before a 

 single blossom is seen, the whole field remaining should be 

 mowed, and made into hay, to be fed at any time, summer 

 or winter. 



Two years ago I fed rye-hay exclusively about three 

 weeks, or till new hay came in, — the last of June. Should 

 the weather prove unfavorable for hay-making when the rye 

 is at its best, and it stands a little too long, it will make very 

 good feed for horses ; and should the weather, as was the 

 case this year, continue bad, the rye will still be valuable for 

 bedding, either for home use or for sale. As a last resort, I 

 have allowed it to mature its seed ; but some farmers would 

 plough the crop in, and have another growing in its place 

 immediately. The present year I had about one-third the 

 area of the tillage-land in winter rye ; and, owing to the 

 rainy weather in June, three acres were allowed to mature 

 seed, it must be seen that this is a very safe and handy 

 crop to have growing, especially as its principal growth is 

 made during those portions of the year when the ground 

 would otherwise lie idle. 



It may follow grass after haying, even after cutting the 

 rowen ; or it may follow any of the spring grains, whether 

 they were cut for fodder or allowed to ripen ; may be put in 

 after potatoes, either early or late ; may follow millet, fodder- 

 corn, or field-corn ; and it will, in either case, be out of the 

 way the following spring in season for almost any crop the 

 farmer may desire to plant or sow. No soiling-crop has 

 gained public favor more rapidly for the past few years than 

 winter rye ; and yet I believe its cultivation is destined to 

 increase many fold. 



Winter wheat sown at the rate of from two to three 

 bushels of seed per acre will produce fodder that is relished 

 by cattle even better than rye. It is more leafy, a little 

 later to mature, is eaten better than rye when advanced to 

 blooming, and comes in as the second green crop in spring. 

 A bald variety is to be preferred, as it makes a smoother 

 fodder than the bearded sorts. The higher cost of seed- 

 wheat is now against its use as a fodder-crop ; but when 

 New-England farmers learn that it is as sure a crop here 



