RYE 83 
washing, but the rye covered the ground so completely 
before winter that no portion of the field was washed. 
In the spring I early plowed this field and sowed it in 
peas for a canning factory. The peas were harvested 
July 7th, 8th, and oth. After the removal of the peas 
I disced the field and July 15th sowed to hungarian. 
September 6th I began cutting the hungarian for hay. 
It produced three and one-half tons of splendid hay per 
acre, equal in feeding value to any hay, except alfalfa, 
grown on the farm. 
On the 20th of September with a disc wheat drill I 
sowed the field to rye without any preparation of the 
soil. By December 1st the field was a solid mass of 
green rye. This field I broke early the following spring 
_and planted to field corn, and the field was in splendid 
tilth for same, and made eighty bushels of corn per 
acre. 
In growing rye for fertilizing purposes most farmers 
make the mistake of pasturing it too close in both fall 
and spring. In no case should it be pastured in the 
spring. Allow it to grow as long as you can. You 
cannot have too large a growth to plow under. Some 
may tell you that if you allow it to get too large and 
plow it under it will so dry out the soil as to injure 
the growing crop. But do not believe it. Heavy vege- 
tation plowed under is a conservator of moisture. 
Some will also tell you that it sours the soil. Your 
soil is sour only when it is cold, wet, non-ventilated and 
unproductive. Ditch and get the water out of it, plow 
into it large quantities of vegetable matter, produced 
from green manuring plants, and thus start up the 
