34^5 THE CEREALS IN AMERICA 



485. Rotation. — Ordinarily rye occupies the place in the 

 rotation assigned to wheat. It is an excellent crop with which 

 to seed down land to grass and clover, and in sections on the 

 northern border of the winter wheat district, lye, on account of 

 its greater hardiness, is sown in place of wheat for this purpose. 

 The Rhode Island Station has obtained satisfactory results with 

 a six-course rotation as follows : first year, winter r}-e ; second 

 year, timothy, redtop and medium red clover ; third year, grass ; 

 fourth year, grass ; fifth year, maize ; and sixth year, potatoes. 

 No stable manure w^as used, but liberal quantities of commercial 

 fertilizers were applied to all crops. In undertaking to build 

 up "worn-out" land with this rotation, it is considered desir- 

 able to begin with rye.^ It has been reported that in Europe 

 rye frequently gives unsatisfactory results when grown after 

 potatoes.^ 



486. Rye as Green Manure. — On account of its hardiness 

 and its ability to grow upon poor soil, rye makes a good crop 

 to grow for plowing under to increase the organic matter in the 

 soil. Rye may be sown in the standing maize in September 

 (128), or, after maize is shocked, may be disked in withoui; 

 plowing. In the spring, rye may be plowed under and land 

 planted again to maize or sown to some other crop. Care; 

 should be taken, however, to plow the rye under early in the 

 spring before it has made too much growth, lest it exhaust the 

 moisture from the soil and thereby reduce the subsequent crop . 

 It has been shown that by allowing the rye to head out and 

 removing the crop, the subsequent maize crop may be seriously 

 injured.* In sowing rye in standing maize, no advantage is 

 gained by sowing before September, since the maize plant so 

 shades the ground as to retard the growth of the earlier sown 

 rye. Sowing rye between two potato crops did not reduce the 



I R. I. Bui. 99. 



« Fuhling's Landw. Ztg. 47 (1S98), No. 18, pp. 702-706; £. S. R. X, 74a 



« Ohio Agr. Rpt 1895, p. 311. 



