338 
Oil the St. Johns-Day Rye. 
Spring Rye, wliich was taller and had longer ears, and was a 
little later than that which is usually cultivated in France. After 
an intensely dry summer, 1818, when all green-meat was ex- 
hausted, and all verdure burnt up, the author inquired of that in- 
telligent and philosophic agriculturist, M. Vilmorin, what crop 
he could sow which should most quickly yield some green-food 
before winter ; when M. Vilmorin informed him that the spring 
rye was, of all the cereals which he then (twenty-seven years 
ago) knew, the most rapid in growth, and the most likely to alford 
a ready supply to the starving cattle. Probably he would now 
give the palm to the Moha, or Panicum Germanicum. Varley, a 
well-informed agriculturist, who wrote about 1777, speaks of the 
spring-rye as being then in cultivation ; but the author is not 
aware that it is generally grown in this island, at least not in the 
southern part of it, to which his observation has been confined. 
There is another variety, which seems to be intermediate be- 
tween the spring-rye and the winter variety, namely, the Roman 
rye, or Seigle de Rome, of which the author of ' Le Bon Jar- 
dinier' for 1846, torn. i. p. 537, speaks in the following terms: — 
" Seigle de Rome. — "We owe this interesting variety to M. the Mar- 
quis Doncien de Chaffardon, whose son brought it from the environs of 
Rome some years since. It is particularly distinguished from other 
varieties by its light colour, and, above all, by the great size of its grain. 
In the autumnal sowings which we have hitherto made of it, the Roman 
rye has completely borne the winter, and lias remained a fuller plant than 
other lots of rye sown by its side for comparison. In our spring sowings 
it has freely run up to seed, and even for the most part in good season. 
But, as an agriculturnl variety, it will require to be followed up for some 
years to come, for it to acquire that uniformity of vegetation and of 
character wliich distinguishes samples for a long time appropriated to 
a careful cultivation. It is only by a judicious and attentive clioice of 
seeds that we cnn reach the result which we are pursuing, and at wliich 
we hope shortly to arrive. It will be always desirable that some 
amateurs sliall come forward to second us in this interesting labour ; 
and, in thus multiplying experiments, in tlie same proportion increase 
the chances of success." 
To the untiring kindness of Messrs. Vilmorin the author owes 
the receipt of a portion of the Roman rye, as a present from those 
kind friends. Of this he intends to sow a part in the present 
autumn, and to reserve the residue for a spring sowing ; but the 
limits of the period of time within which he is called on to close 
this paper, preclude him from having any observations to offer on 
the result of the trial. Should the variety prove of important 
value, he will hereafter communicate his remarks thereon to the 
Society. 
The Secalc liybernum, or common winter rye, is the variety 
most generally cultivated in England. It formerly constituted a 
