CHAPTER VIII. 



THE COMMON CEREALS. 



The chief of the common cereals grown in this 

 country, are wheat, oats, barley and rye. They are 

 produced as winter, or spring varieties according to 

 the circumstances under which they are grown. 

 All of these may be grown singly for soiling food, 

 or they may be grown in various combinations. 

 Peas and vetches may also be included in some of 

 these combinations, and when they can be so in- 

 cluded, much is added to the value of the food; as 

 shown in Chapter VI. The least valuable of these 

 crops for soiling uses are rye and barley. Rye 

 turns woody so soon after the ear has formed, that 

 it becomes unpalatable; and the feeding value of 

 barley is lessened soon after it somes out in head, 

 because of the presence of the beards found in 

 nearly all varieties of this cereal. For feeding pur- 

 poses these mixtures are usually valuable in proper-* 

 tion to the peas or vetches which they contain. This 

 arises from the more nitrogenous character of the 

 latter, their greater palatability, and the large yields 

 of the fodder which they produce in pea and vetch 

 soils. 



The combinations in which these crops may be 

 grown are various. There may be instances in 

 which several of them may be grown together, but 

 usually only two or three varieties are thus grown. 



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