GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 119 



natural soil for rye, though it grows freely on light sands and 

 gravels which refuse to produce either wheat, barley or oats. 

 L 'umy soils that are too rich for wheat and on which it 

 almost invariably lodges, will frequently raise an excellent 

 crop of rye, its stronger stem enabling it to sustain itself under 

 its luxuriant growth. 



THE PREPARATION OF Tin: SOIL FOR RYE, is similar to 

 that for wheat ; and it may be advantageously sown upon a 

 rich old turf or clover ley, or after corn or roots where the 

 land has been well manured and thoroughly cleansed from 

 weeds. There is not an equal necessity for using a brine- 

 steep for rye as for wheat, yet if allowed to remain a few hours 

 in a weak solution of saltpetre or some of the other salts, it 

 promotes speedy germination and subsequent growth. 



SOWING. There is but one species of rye, but to this cul- 

 tivation has given two varieties, the spring and winter. Like 

 wheat they are easily transformed into each other by sowing 

 the winter continually later through successive generations to 

 change it into spring grain, and the opposite for its re-conver- 

 sion into winter grain. The last should be sown from the 

 20th of August to the 20th of September, the earliest requi- 

 ring less seed, as it has a longer time to tiller and fill up the 

 ground. Five pecks is the usual quantity sown, but it varies 

 from one to two bushels according to the quality of the soil, 

 the richest lands demanding most. It is a practice among 

 many farmers to sow rye among their standing corn on light 

 lands, hoeing it in and leaving the ground as level as poss- 

 ble. On such lands this is attended with several advantages, 

 as it gives the grain an early start and a moist, sheltered po- 

 sition, at a time when drought and a hot sun would check 

 or prevent vegetation. As soon as the corn is sufficiently 

 matured, it should be cut up by the roots and placed in com- 

 pact shocks, or removed to one side of the field, when the rye 

 should be thoroughly rolled. When sown on a fresh plowed 

 field, it should be harrowed in before rolling. Great success 

 has attended the turning in of green crops and following the 

 fresh plowing with instant sowing of the seed. This brings 

 it forward at once. No after cultivation is needed except 

 harrowing in spring and again rolling if the hind is light, both 

 of which are beneficial, for though some of the stools may be 

 thus destroyed, the working of the ground assists the remain- 

 ing plants so as to leave a great advantage in favor of the 

 practice. A friend of the writer had occasion to plow some 

 land in the spring which joined a field of rye belonging to a 



