180 On a variety of Rye as Green Fodder. 
The difference in the varieties of rye I discovered accidentally 
some years since. Having obtained seed from two different seeds- 
men, I found in the following spring that for the purposes of 
early feed the produce from the one was a fortnight earlier, and 
twice as much in produce superior to the other. Since that time 
I have invariablv grown my own seed, and rarely fail in obtaining 
a plant, whereas previously I hardly ever obtained one, from the 
circumstance of old rye being mixed with new by persons inte- 
rested ; and the old very rarely vegetating, my plants were thin, 
or failed altogether. 
I have, from long experience and observation, brought my 
system of cultivation to such a degree of perfection that I never 
fail succeeding in obtaining a plant ; and by the application of 
the produce I am enabled to support all my horses and neat stock 
for two or three weeks before my neighbours commence. From 
the middle of April last I have thus been enabled to maintain 
upwards of forty horses and colts, and fifty head of neat stock : the 
former up to the present time, and the latter until the 14th of 
this month, almost without the assistance of hay. The chief diflR- 
culty I had to contend with was to remedy the great waste occa- 
sioned by the horses and stock in foddering ; for as the rye advanced 
in stem, the stock would eat only the most tender portion, and if 
tares were sown in conjunction, would waste the greater j)art of 
the rye in the endeavour to extract them whilst feeding. To 
remedy this, I now cut the whole into chaff ; and by the addition 
of a small quantity of hay, and about one-half sweet wheat or oat- 
straw (which I gradually diminish as the season advances), I suc- 
ceed in obtaining a description of food of which, for early use, I 
know of nothing as an equivalent, whether in point of cheapness 
or utility, besides the advantage of gradually adapting the change 
from dry to green food without risk or inconvenience to the 
animal. The number of acres consumed to the present time, of 
rye alone, and in conjunction with tares, does not exceed 9 acres, 
and the land upon which it is grown is already in a forward state 
for turnips. I will now give a condensed statement of the pro- 
cess, and advert to those points necessary to be attended to in^the 
cultivation as T proceed. 
To succeed to perfection, a fine tilth must be obtained, and the 
land should be of a sandy or gravelly quality. The rye should 
be sown when the weather is perfectly dry, and the land harrowed 
previously, so that it may be covered as lightly as possible. If 
sown upon a whole furrow, or during wet weather, or if put in 
deep, it rarely succeeds. These are the three points that require 
particular attention in its cultivation. My plan is to plough a 
clean wheat eddish immediately after the wheat-crop is removed ; 
and with two or three scarifyings or additional ploughings, reduce 
V 
