CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



sown, unless it be in a perfect state of soundness and matu- 

 rity. 



Rye usually rises to a greater height than wheat, produces a 

 thinner stem, but a great weight of straw. The straw is hard, 

 wiry, little esteemed for fodder, but is used for thatch and other 

 purposes. It is well suited for the manufacture of straw-hats; 

 and, when intended for this latter purpose, it is sown very 

 thick, pulled green, and bleached by exposure to the air. 



Though free from the diseases of wheat, rye is yet subject 

 to a peculiar one. This is the ergot, a fungous plant, which, 

 though it is found on other gramineous [like or pertaining to 

 grass, grassy] plants, is, nevertheless, more especially, if not 

 almost exclusively, the peculiar disease of rye. 



It is a long cartilaginous-like substance, taking the place of 

 the grain and projecting from the ear. It chiefly prevails in 

 humid seasons, in close situations, or where the soil is wet. 

 Animals when in a state of liberty, refuse it; and when used 

 in quantity among bread, it is said to be highly pernicious. 



When sown early, rye is often depastured in autumn by 

 calves, sheep, and even cows, without prejudice to the crop; it 

 is even an advantage. It is often sown as a soiling crop, to be 

 cut in spring, and fed to stock. The quality of the flour is 

 improved by the grain being cut before it becomes perfectly 

 hard. 



There is an instance mentioned in the Farmer's Assistant, of a gravelly soil 

 being highly manured and sowed with rye, in which the rye was twice suc- 

 cessively eaten oft' close to the ground by sheep breaking in after it had ac- 

 quired a height of about nine inches the first time, and six inches the latter. 

 These croppings, however, only served to make it grow thicker and stronger 

 than before; and when harvested it produced at the rate of one hundred and 

 twenty-eight bushels to the acre. The author of the above account supposed 

 that the crop would have been lost by lodging, had it not been for the two suc- 

 cessive croppings of the sheep, and suggests the expediency of trying similar 

 experiments with wheat. 



It has been remarked that winter rye may be sown early in the spring, and 

 used as pasture during the season; and that it may be sown at the usual time, 

 and serve for a sheep pasture awhile during the next spring without injury to 

 the crop. It may also be mowed for hay two or three times during the sum- 

 mer, when sown in the spring. But in such culture the ground should have 

 much more seed than the usual allowance, which for early sowing in the fall 

 is about a bushel to the acre, or a bushel and a half for later sowing. Spring 

 rye, it is believed, should have this latter allowance, and be sowed as early as 

 the ground can be well prepared. 



Rye that is intended for family use, should, if the weather will admit, be 

 harvested even as early as when the rye is yet in the milk, and left to lie on 

 the ground for some days to dry and harden. By such management the grain 

 will make a much whiter flour, though perhaps not quite as heavy as when it 

 stands till it is fully ripe. 



When rye is sown successively on the same soil, the stubble should be 

 ploughed under as soon as the crop is taken off, which helps to improve the 

 ground and serves to destroy the seeds of weeds. It should then lay until about 

 the first of September, then sowed, and the seed harrowed in. Some have sup- 

 posed that in this way the crops will increase in quantity. 



