382 HANDT-BOOK OP HUSBANDRY. 



To get the best results for early soiling, the cutting should 

 not be too early^ but the crop is not injured (only delayed) by 

 cutting or feeding ofF as often as is desired at any time before 

 the "jointing" takes place, as a new and vigorous growth will 

 follow every cutting, 



I am credibly informed that by being cut often enough, rye has 

 been kept in luxuriant condition for five years. I have myself 

 taken two heavy cuttings in one season, and had a crop of ripe 

 grain afterward. 



Rye is a good green fodder only when in a comparatively green 

 and immature condition. If left until it blossoms, the lower part 

 of the straw, although it may still be green, is too hard to be 

 readily eaten by cattle. 



Still more than oats is rye a safe crop to plant to excess, as 

 when grown on land fit for soiling uses, its production of straw is 

 very large, and rye straw, thrashed by hand, is always marketable 

 at a very high price, usually much higher than the best hay, and 

 the grain is of considerable importance. 



Millet, the remaining forage crop of our list, is one on which I 

 do not feel qualified to give instruction, having never succeeded 

 in producing a satisfactory crop. I am informed by those who 

 have grown it regularly, that it is a valuable adjunct in green 

 soiling. My own conviction is that it cannot compete with 

 Indian corn, — nor can any thing else, — and that, therefore, as it 

 cannot be produced any earlier than this, there is no advantage in 

 growing it. 



Allen says:* "It grows to the height of two and a half to four 

 " feet, with a profusion of stalks and leaves which furnish excel- 

 " lent forage for cattle. From eighty to one hundred bushels of 

 " seed per acre have been raised, and with straw equivalent to one 

 " and a half to two tons of hay ; but an average crop riay be 

 " estimated at about one-third this quantity. Owing to the great 

 " waste during the ripening of the seed, from the shelling of the 



* New American Book of the Farm. New York : Orange Judd & Co. 



