280 CHAPTER XVI 



In America the crop is grown extensively for the straw, 

 which is used for making mats, stuffing horse-collars, and so 

 forth. When grown for this purpose it is cut when the straw 

 is still quite green, made into small bundles and carefully cured. 

 Alcoholic beverages are also manufactured from the grain of 

 this cereal. 



Eye yields about one to two tons of straw, and under irri- 

 gation 20 to 26'6 bushels of grain (6 to 8 bags) per acre ; without 

 irrigation about half the above is obtained. 



Diseases. — It is subject to rust, but not to smut, and is 

 usually much more rust-resistant than wheat. It is often badly 

 attacked by ergot, which causes the grains to grow three to five 

 times their normal size, turn black, and be filled with black 

 spores. While of a pharmaceutical value, rye badly infected 

 with this disease, which causes abortion and certain forms of 

 paralysis in live stock, should not be fed. 



