i^o FORAGE CROPS. 



after they have been milked, otherwise both milk and 

 butter will be affected adversely. 



Observations. — i. Winter rye is not altogether 

 satisfactory as a pasture plant when sown in the 

 spring. It will make a good and rapid growth for 

 a time, but when the hot weather of summer comes, 

 it usually turns a sickly, rusty color, and in very dry 

 weather dies outright. This, at least, has been the 

 author's experience in growing spring sown winter 

 rye, both in Ontario and Minnesota. Several other 

 cereal plants will furnish more and better pasture 

 when sown in the spring. 



2. Winter rye is sometimes pastured with 

 swine from early spring until the crop has been har- 

 vested by the swine. When thus pastured the rye 

 is in excess of the immediate wants of the swine, 

 and consequently it forms ears that mature. In many 

 instances it may be well to remove the swine for a 

 time to prevent breaking it down unduly until the 

 grain is nearly matured. The grain is then consumed 

 by the swine. Much of it will, of course, shell out 

 and become more or less imbedded in the ground by 

 the trampling of the swine. In moist weather, it soon 

 springs up and in turn furnishes late summer pas- 

 ture. If clover has been sown on the rye in the 

 early spring, the pasture will be much improved in 

 consequence, when a good "catch" of the clover is 

 obtained. This method of furnishing food for 

 swine has met with some favor in Ohio and else- 

 where, but it does not seem to find much favor as 

 yet with the average farmer. 



3. When rye is sown in the late summer with 

 a view to pasturing it in the autumn and also in the 

 spring. Dwarf Essex rape seed may be sown along 



