( 177 ) 
XV.— Ort the St. Johns-day Rye. By Ph. Pusey, M.P. 
The late Lord Leicester advised that no fanning experiment 
should be published until it had been successfully tried for three 
years. But though I have not grown the St. John's-day rye as 
yet even for two complete years, its promising appearance, and 
the approval of neighbouring farmers, encourage me to lay a short 
account of this plant before the Society. It was in 1842 that 
Mr. Taunton of Ashlev, near Stockbridge, first made it known to 
me in the following terms : — 
" In your digest of the progress of agricultural knowledge you say, of 
early rye, that 'some farmers do not approve of it; for while young 
it gives but litde food, and it shoots up rapidly to a harsh stalk, which 
stock do not relish.' But this reproach does not apply to the variety of 
rye which is the best worth cultivating; and, as I think, the only one 
worth cultivating to any extent for the purpose of green meat — namely, 
the St. John's-day rye {seigle de 9t. Jean). This plant, if sown in 
proper time, and on a suitable soil, presents itself to the scythe in a state 
palatable to horses for full three weeks, or more. I would sow not more 
than one-fourth of the ground with common rye by the side of it, for the 
common rye is a very few days earlier, and by the time when that be- 
comes harsh and woody the St. John's-day rye has attained its perfec- 
tion. Of this latter I have had, on a suitable soil, to the extent of 11 
London loads of straw per acre when left for seed ; for it will grow from 
6 to 7 feet high. The time to sow it is the 24th of June'; at all events 
get it in before July. The soil for rye ought to be a siliceous soil; it 
does not reject a considerable admixture of clay, but it ought to come 
under the description of a sandy loam. If you want such a burthen as 
I have described, of course the condition of the soil must not be poor, and 
such produce will pay for good land. The soil, too, needs to be com- 
pressed after sowing, if the land be at all light, by rolling or sheep- 
treading ; otherwise the rye-plant is peculiarly obnoxious to the wire- 
worm. The mass of foliage in October would induce you to feed it then ; 
but I would recommend you to abstain : the leaf (unlike winter barley) 
is very little changed by the winter, and it so cherishes the young foliage, 
which shoots up in spring covered witii this dense mantle, that it will 
repay your forbearance with ample interest. I have seen it in the end 
of February, or beginning of March, equal, if not superior, to the best 
water-meadow for ewes and lambs; for soiling in stable, the horses will 
eat it when the ear is fairly developed, and it miiy perhaps be 5 feet 
high (according to the soil) ; it will have tillered so much that the pro- 
duce will be a very heavy one." 
In June of the following year (1843) Mr. Taunton sent me 
another account of his further success in the growth of the St. 
Jotin's-day rye : — 
" I inclose to you a stalk of my St. John's-day rye, length 6 feet : it 
has not yet flowered. I began to soil eiglit cart-horses with it on the 
13th of May, then 3 feet high, and four cows a week later. Both these 
VOL. VI. N 
