Rye. 41 



(3) By substituting for wheat breads whicii, whether made at 



home or by the baker, combine with wheat flour from 

 10 to 25 per cent, of other cereal products or suitable 

 flours or meals, as peanut flour, soy-bean flour, or with 

 potato or sweet potato. 



(4) By using* other cereals for bread-making — for instance, rye, 



which will make a yeast-raised bread, and others, like corn, 

 oatmeal, kaffir, and buckwheat, which can be used without 

 flour to make quick breads. . . ." 

 While an extended local market for rye and rye meal depends 

 in the first instance on the consumer, we recommend to the earnest 

 consideration of producers the statement hereunder by the Govern- 

 ment Agronomist who urges farmers of the Union seriously to con- 

 sider the advisability of giving greater attention to the growing of 

 rye than they have hitherto done. Experiments with rye conducted 

 at the Potchefstroom School of Agriculture have shown that very 

 favourable yields are obtainable. In this connection it is pointed out 

 that the Mammoth is a winter type and of slow growth, requiring 

 early planting, say, in April. Early Rye is to be preferred as it can 

 be sown as late as the end of June with good prospects of a full crop, 

 or if the ground is ready for early planting the seed may be sown in 

 May and the crop matured before affected by dry, hot weather in 

 November. In the Potchefstroom trials of 1919, Early Rye returned 

 1450 lb. grain per acre. A new variety, O.A.C. 61, has proved a 

 good cropper and is also early in reaching maturity; the yield has 

 amounted to 1720 lb. seed per acre. In addition to the value of its 

 grain, rye is one of the hardiest winter feed crops for grazing, and 

 it may also be allowed to come into ear and be cut and drawn to the 

 stable, where it maj^ be used very successfully as a green feed, 

 especially for dairy cows. 



When it is considered therefore that rye can be cultivated 

 profitably in areas not so suitable to wheat, oats, or barley, that it is a 

 greater drought and rust resister than wheat and is less open to; the 

 attacks of birds (a serious pest in parts of the country), that rye both 

 green and as a meal is also an excellent feed for stock, and that it 

 is one of the best crops for soiling purposes on the poorer soils, it 

 seems strange that it has not yet come into greater favour. Sowings 

 of rye in the Union are comparatively small. The 1918 Census shows 

 that in 1917-18 our total production of rve was onlv 260,428 muids 

 (200 lb.) compared with wheat 3,044,856 muids, maize 12,640,091 

 muids, kaffir corn 1,801,415 muids, oats (grain) 2,296,657 muids. 



NOTE BY H. S. DU TOIT. GOVERNMENT AGRONOMIST. 



Rye (Scvle Cereale). 



De Candolle says that the original home of rye was between the 

 Caspian Sea and the Austrian Alps and that it is doubtful whether it 

 now exists in the wild state. He further maintains that the wild rye 

 reported by travellers was either plants which were self-sown or a 

 rye-like grass of an allied genus. According to Hackel, however, 

 the original form of rye (Sereale montanum) grows wild in mountains 

 of the Mediterranean countries and as far east as Central Asia. The 



