346 FIELD CROPS FOR THE COTTON-BELT 



of the cylinder instead of endwise as is the usual way. 

 In the old style of machines the straw is discharged on 

 a table in shape so that one or two men can rebind it with 

 bands of straw caught up from the bundle. In more 

 modern machines, the binding is done with twine by a 

 modified form of the ordinary binder. The straw is baled 

 in the old type of open-topped boxl-press, being tramped 

 in bundle by bundle and' tramped down. This is pecu- 

 liarly hard, exhausting work; but it seems to be the only 

 acceptable method of baling rye-straw. The bales weigh 

 200 to 250 pounds." ^ 



428. Enemies. — Rye is injured by the chinch-bug 

 and the Hessian fly. Few other insects do serious damage 

 to rye. At least two kinds of rust — • the black-stem rust 

 and the orange rust of the leaves, — attack rye. Smut 

 sometimes attacks rye, the treatment being the same as 

 for oat smut, page 302. 



Ergot, sometimes known as spurred rye, is probably 

 the greatest enemy of rye, although this disease is not 

 especially prevalent in the cotton-belt. Ergot is caused 

 by a fungus (Clavicepa purpurea) which attacks the grains, 

 causing them to become greatly enlarged on account of 

 the growth of the fruiting spores. It is claimed that "wide 

 spread disease and trouble" have been produced in Euro- 

 pean countries as a result of using ergot-infested rye for 

 human food. From a physiological standpoint ergot is 

 rather important, it being used as a medicine in obstetrics. 

 It is said that when fed to animals ergot sometimes causes 

 abortion and also gangrene of the extremities. Rye 

 containing ergot should not be sown and land which has 

 produced the diseased rye should be planted to other 

 crops for two or three years. 



' Van Wagenen in Bailey's " Cyclo. of Am. Agr., Vol. 2," p. 561. 



