30 -LABORATORY MANUAL IN FIELD CROPS 



PRACTICUM NO. 23 

 Object. A Study of the Rye Plant. 



Materials. Matured plants in the field, or the entire matured 

 plant dried in the laboratory. 



Method. Make a study of the plant, and tabulate the fol- 

 lowing data in your notebooks : 



1. Height of the culm, average of ten culms to the tip of 

 the awn. 



2. Culm : diameter below the spike, average of ten culms. 



3. Wall of culm compared with the oat : thick, medium, thin. 



4. Foliage compared with that of the wheat : scanty, me- 

 dium, abundant. 



5. Is there any rust present ? If so, what percentage of the 

 leaves are affected ? 



6. Is there any ergot present? If so, what percentage of 

 the heads are affected? 



7. Spike : erect, leaning, nodding. 



8. Length of spike, average of ten spikes from the lower 

 part of the rachis to the tip of the outer glume. 



9. Number of grains per spikelet. 



10. Number of grains per spike, average of ten spikes. 



11. Weight of 100 grains. 



12. Size : length of ten grains, width of ten grains. 



13. Plumpness: plump, medium, shrunken. 



14. What is the standard weight per bushel for rye ? 



15. Make a drawing of the outer glumes of wheat and rye 

 for comparison. 



REFERENCES 



Hunt's Cereals in America, pp. 345-355. 



Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, p. 375. 



Livingston's Field Crop Production, pp. 177-181. 



