330 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



complete preventive against this insect has been discovered, 

 which consists simply in sprinkling, at the flowering season, 

 slacked lime over the grain while wet. Mr. Colman thinks 

 that this may generally be relied on as a certain preventive. 



The barberry bush has been thought to be injurious to 

 wheat, rye and barley, by causing it to blast. 



Rye is the seed of secale cereale, and has also been long 

 cultivated for food. In the north of Europe, it ranks next 

 to wheat for bread, and is used, for the same purpose, in 

 many parts of this country, particularly with Indian corn 

 for brown bread, a very healthy and cheap article of diet. 

 Rye is not regarded as a very profitable crop, but if we con- 

 sider the fact, that it will grow on sandy plains, Avith little 

 ^(>r no manure, and yield from 10 to 20 bushels to the acre, 

 we must regard it as of great value; for it is the only grain 

 which will grow on soils containing more than 85 per cent, 

 of sand. 



The time of sowing rye is in August or September, either 

 after potatoes or corn, or upon a summer fallow. The quan- 

 tity should be about one bushel to the acre. It may also be 

 sown in the spring, but the winter rye is generally the most 

 certain and productive crop. The general practice of our 

 farmers is, to plough up sandy plains once in three years, and 

 take a crop of this grain, and then let the soil rest for a year 

 or two, and take another crop. This practice cannot be too 

 severely censured. If clover were sown with the rye, on 

 such lands, and turned in with the stubble, the soil would 

 soon become enriched and fitted to bear any crop. If the 

 clover will not grow, spread on ashes, plaster or lime, and as 

 soon as the roots become fixed in the soil, there is not the 

 least diflficulty in rendering the land as fertile as you please. 

 Instead of 8 or 10 bushels to the acre, once in three years, 

 our farmers ought to raise, at least 25 bushels with root crops 

 and corn in the interval. 



