EXERCISE 34. EARLY GROWTH OF THE RYE PLANT 



Equipment: For this exercise make the same prepara- 

 tion as described for corn. 



Method: Follow the directions given in Exercise 15. 



Discussion : Almost forty per cent of the rye produced 

 in the United States is grown in the three States — Pennsyl- 

 vania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Rye will grow on rather 

 poor soils and for this reason it is frequently seeded in the 

 fall to be plowed under and used as a green manure in the 

 spring. Very little of the rye grown in the United States is 

 used for human food. In Russia and other parts of north- 

 ern Europe, however, rye bread is one of the chief articles 

 of food. 



Rye is a hardy plant and stands the winter better than 

 wheat. It may be seeded in the standing corn in September 

 or after the corn is cut and shocked the rye may be disked 

 in without plowing. In the spring the rye may be plowed 

 down and the land again planted to corn or seeded to 

 some other crop Care should be taken, however, to 

 plow the rye under in the early spring before it has made 

 too rank growth, otherwise it may exhaust the moisture 

 from the soil and thus injure the crop which is to follow. 

 As a cover crop for orchards it has given good results. 



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