142 



AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



yards; and especially to the numerous varieties of fowls 

 (aquatic and others), that seemed to revel on their fresh green 

 pastures, in the absence of other herbage. 



Diseases. Rye is subject to fewer casualties than wheat. 

 Ergot or cockspur frequently affects it. This fungus is dis- 

 covered, not only on rye, but on other plants of the order 

 gramince. Several of these elongated, curved and brownish 

 spurs appear on a single head, and they are most frequent in 

 hot, wet seasons. They are poisonous to both man and beast ; 

 and when eaten freely, they have generated fatal epidemics in 

 the community, and emaciation, debility, and in some cases 

 death, to animals consuming it. The sloughing of the hoofs 

 and horns of cattle, has been attributed to ergot in their grass 

 and grain. Rust like that which affects the wheat crop, 

 and owing probably to the same causes, attacks rye. When 

 this happens, it should be cut and harvested without delay. 



Rye for Soiling is sometimes sown by those who wish 

 forage late in autumn and early in spring. For this purpose, 

 it should be sown at the rate of three or four bushels per 

 acre. If on a fertile soil and not too closely pastured, it will 

 bear a good crop of grain ; and in some cases when too rank, 

 early feeding will strengthen the stalk and increase the grain 



BARLEY (Hordenm, Fig. 33). 



Barley is a grain of extensive cultivation and 

 i great value. Like wheat and rye, it is both a 

 winter and spring grain, though in this coun- 

 I try, it is almost universally sown in The spring. 

 / There are six varieties, differing in no essential 

 points, and all originating from the same 

 source. London says, in choosing for seed, 

 " the best is that which is free from blackness 

 at the tail, and is of a pale, lively yellow, in- 

 termixed with a bright, whitish cast ; and if the 

 rind be a little shrivelled, so much the better, 

 as it indicates thin skin. The husk of thick- 

 rinded barley is too stiff to shrink, and will lie 

 smooth and hollow, even when the flour is 

 shrunk within. The necessity of a change of 

 seed from time to time, for that grown in a dif- 9 

 ferent soil, is in no instance more evident than 

 in this grain, which otherwise becomes coarser 

 every successive year. But in this, as in all other 

 FIO 33 grain, the utmost care should be taken that 

 the seed is full bodied." 



