CHAPTER XIII 



HOW TO CULTIVATE WINTER GREENS 



Let me now discuss the different types of 

 winter greens in detail. In this, as in any other 

 feature of the Continuous Cropping system, the reader 

 must be content more or less with general statements. 

 In other words, it is for the farmer to ascertain, by 

 trial, which of the different type of winter greens are 

 best suited for his particular purpose. 



The hardiest of all the types of winter greens is 

 xj^e, and of all the different varieties at present in 

 existence, there is none more hardy and productive 

 of more foliage than that known as giant Essex rye. 



When the writer was a boy he distinctly remembers 

 a variety of rye known as St. John's Day rye, which 

 for luxuriance of growth, hardiness, and perennial 

 habit was even more valuable than giant Essex rye. 

 For some reason or other, this variety seems to have 

 gone out of cultivation, or, at least, is no longer 

 procurable. It is to be hoped that some seedsman 

 will again take this variety of seed in hand. 



Not only is rye very hardy, but the use and 

 consumption of rye crops may be very varied. In the 

 chapter on corn-growing, some reference has already 

 been made to the growing of rye as a cereal crop, and 

 using it first as a soiling crop in late autumn, and 

 again in early spring. 



