RYE 



•RYE 



563 



While green rye is exceedingly laxative, it is 

 generally reported to be satisfactory for milk 

 production. One objection to its use lies in the 

 comparatively short period during which it is 

 available. Before heading, the dry matter per 

 acre is too small to amount to much, and as 

 soon as the grain begins to form the straw becomes 

 hard, woody and unpalatable. Probably ten or 

 twelve days in late April or early May, according 

 to latitude, will cover the period during which it 

 is in really good condition for green forage. When 

 a system of soiling is followed, rye may be suc- 

 ceeded in turn by wheat, clover, peas and oats and 

 corn. However, a silo full of first-class, well-ma- 

 tured corn silage will usually offer the happiest 

 solution to the problem of summer feeding. 



Cover-crop and green-manure. — Rye is used as a 

 cover-crop and for green-manuring. While not a 

 nitrogen-gathering plant, it is perhaps one of the 

 best for producing organic matter on soils of low 

 fertility. When plowed under to be followed with 

 a crop of corn, it should not be allowed to become 

 too mature, for the exhaustion of the soil moisture 

 by the rye before plowing, and the subsequent cut- 

 ting off of the capillary movement of the soil water 

 by a mat of vegetable material which decays very 

 slowly, may work serious injury to the succeeding 

 crop, especially if the summer proves to be one of 

 deficient rainfall. 



Straw. — Rye as a crop is unique in one respect, 

 that is, in the East the straw is commonly about 

 equal to the grain in value. This is preeminently 

 the straw which is sought for bedding by fastidi- 

 ous horsemen, and the outlet for this purpose is 

 very large. Until a score of years ago, it was very 

 largely used in the making of a coarse brown paper 

 for grocers, and for strawboard. Columbia county, 

 in New York state, was once the center of a great 

 rye-growing and paper-making industry. The crop 

 is still very largely grown, but the mills have gone 

 since the trade has changed to wood-pulp manila 

 papers. The straw is also widely used in packing 

 furniture and nursery stock, in making straw goods 

 and in various other industrial. 



Flour. — Rye flour carries some of its protein in 

 the form of gluten, and hence, unlike maize, makes 

 a light, porous, but rather dark-colored bread. The 

 American demand for the flour is comparatively 

 small. A century ago, with corn, it entered largely 

 into the dietary of the New England states. 



Rye flour is now made by the roller process simi- 

 lar to the methods employed in wheat milling. A 

 few mills in the East make this their specialty. All 

 the milling waste ordinarily goes together into one 

 feed, which contains less protein and ash than 

 wheat-mill products and sells at a lower price. It 

 is often wise to purchase it for swine-feeding. 



Liquors. — Some rye is used in the production of 

 alcoholic liquors, but the quantity thus utilized is 

 relatively small. The distillers' refuse from rye is 

 not so rich in protein and fat as from corn. 



Enemies. 



Insects. — Rye has no very specific insect or fun- 

 gous enemies. The chinch-bug (Blissus leucopterus) 



will feed on it, and the Hessian fly {Cecidomyia 

 destructor) has been reported to infest it in New 

 York. The former is difficult to combat. All rubbish 

 near infested areas should be destroyed and infested 

 grass -fields should be burned over. Grass strips 

 may be planted around the rye-field and turned 

 under when infested with the insects. Crop rota- 

 tion helps in a measure. Migrations may be pre- 

 vented and large numbers killed by means of deep 

 trenches or tar strips (page 42). The Hessian fly 

 is controlled by planting resistant varieties, late 

 seeding, burning the stubble after harvest, and 

 sowing a small strip of wheat early for a trap-crop, 

 to be plowed under when infested. 



Diseases. — Rye also suffers from at least two 

 kinds of rusts, — one a black rust of the stems and 

 the other a. reddish or orange rust of the leaves. 

 These fungi are important economically, because 

 they not only cause shrinkage and light weight in 

 the grain, but they discolor the straw as well. 

 Burning infested stubble and prac- 

 ticing crop rotation are the sug- 

 gested remedies. 



Smut sometimes attacks rye. It 

 may be treated as for oats, which 

 see. 



An interesting disease, which is 

 not confined to rye, however, is 

 ergot (Claviceps purpurea) or 

 spurred rye (Fig. 801), due to a 

 fungus which attacks the rye 

 grains and causes them to become 

 greatly enlarged with a characterr 

 istic appearance. Ergot is impor- 

 tant from a physiological stand- 

 point. As a medicine it has long 

 been used in obstetrics, and when 

 fed to animals it has sometimes 

 caused abortion and also gangrene 

 of the extremities. Wide-spread 

 disease and trouble have been 

 reported from its presence in rye 

 used as human food in Europe. 

 Ergot occurs on the seeds of vari- 

 ous grasses and wheat as well, 

 but it does not cause the grains of wheat to 

 enlarge, and hence it is less conspicuous. It is said 

 to be very common on rye in Germany, France and 

 Spain, and is frequently reported from Iowa and 

 Nebraska, but it is not usual in the rye districts 

 of New York and New Jersey. The remedy lies in 

 not using infested rye as seed and in not sowing 

 rye on land where ergot rye has grown for two or 

 three years previously. 



Literature. 



Hunt, The Cereals in America, Orange Judd 

 Company ; Henry, Feeds and Feeding, pp. 132-133, 

 published by the author, Madison, Wisconsin ; 

 Roberts, Fertility of the Land, p. 116, Macmillan 

 Company ; Wilcox and Smith, Farmer's Cyclopedia 

 of Agriculture, Orange Judd Company; Pennsyl- 

 vania Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 

 No. 52 ; Yearbooks, United States Department of 

 Agriculture, Statistical Tables. 



Fig. 801. 

 Ereiot, a diseased 

 condition of the 

 grain of lye. 



