140 AMERIPAN AGRICULTURE. 



for this purpose it is only second to wheat, in those countries 

 where it is cultivated. There is a peculiar aroma connected 

 with the husk of the grain, which is not found in the finely- 

 bolted flour. The grain when ground and unbolted, is much 

 used in the New England States, for mixing into loaves with 

 scalded Indian meal ; it is then baked for a long time, and is 

 known as rye-and-Indian or brown bread. This possesses 

 a sweetness and flavor peculiar to itself, which is doubtless 

 owing in no small degree, to the quality above mentioned. 

 Von Thaer says " this substance appears to facilitate diges- 

 tion, and has a singularly strengthening, refreshing and 

 beneficial effect on the animal frame." Rye is more 

 hardy than wheat, and is a substitute for it on those 

 soils which will not grow the latter grain with certainty 

 and profit. 



Soil and Cultivation. Neither strong clay nor calcareous 

 lands are well suited to it. A rich sandy loam is the natural 

 soil for rye, though it grows freely on light sands and 

 gravels, which refuse to produce either wheat, barley, or oats. 

 Loamy soils that are too rich for wheat, and on which it 

 almost invariably lodges, will frequently raise an excellent 

 crop of rye, its stronger stem enabling it to sustain itself 

 under the luxuriant growth. 



The preparation of the Soil for Rye, is similar to that 

 for wheat; and it may be advantageously sown upon a 

 rich old turf or clover ley,'or after corn or roots where the 

 land has been well manured, and thoroughly cleansed from 

 weeds. There is not an equal necessity for using a brine- 

 steep for rye as for wheat, yet if allowed to remain a few hours 

 in a weak solution of saltpetre or some of the other salts, it 

 promotes speedy germination and subsequent growth. 



Cultivation. There is but one species of rye ; but to this 

 cultivation has given two leading varieties, the spring and 

 winter. Like wheat, they are" easily transformed into each 

 other, by sowing the winter continually later through suc- 

 cessive generations, to change it into spring rye, and the 

 opposite course will ensure its re-conversion into winter 

 grain. The last should be sown from the 20th of August to 

 the 20th of September, the earliest requiring less seed, as it 

 has a longer time to tiller and fill up the ground. Five pecks 

 is the usual quantity sown, but it varies from one to two 

 bus*hels according to the quality of the soil, the richest lands 

 demanding most. 



It is a practice among many farmers, to sow rye on light 

 lands, among their standing corn, hoeing it in, and leaving 



