408 CEREALS. 



ties, but nothing is like having a supply of all the good 

 things of life on hand, raised on your own farm. We have 

 become independent of the South, so far as molasses is 

 concerned, let us now raise a home supply of rice, and 

 then, with all the luxuries, as well as the necessities of life* 

 the farmer can snap his fingers at dull care and hard times. 

 From 25 to 40 bushels of rough rice can be raised on an 

 acre, and this will shell out enough to last a long time. 



A comparative analysis with other grains will be found 

 on page 336. It is by no means equal to wheat in its nu- 

 tritive qualities, containing more starch but fewer nitrogen- 

 ous substances. 



BYE— {Secale cereale). 



Has long bearded ears, and a tall and very slender stem. The glumes 

 are toothed on the edges, has a terminal spike, solitary, erect, from two 

 to four inches long, with beards four or five times the length of glumes. 

 Root fibrous, and annual. ' 



There are two varieties cultivated in Tennessee, besides 

 many others with local names. These two are named from 

 their habits, one being winter rye, the other spring rye, but 

 the former is almost exclusively used. 



Rye will grow in a colder climate than wheat or barley, 

 and on poorer soil. On the poorest sandy soils in the 

 State, it will do quite well. It will grow on the Cumber- 

 land and Unaka mountains six to eight feet high. Sown 

 in almost any month of the year it will make a crop. Its 

 principal use in Tennessee is for pastures, though some use 

 is made of the grain as meal, as well as for stock food. 

 From the fact that the seeds are rarely saved, the price is> 

 in Tennessee, quite high, as compared with that of other 

 grains, the range of value for several years being as great 

 as wheat. 



Among the cereals,- rye is cultivated, in Tennessee, least ; 

 but in some of the States, it, is extensively raised as a 

 distilling grain. It is extensively used in making beer? 



