On the St. John s-Day Rye. 
349 
pally conversant with poor land) is accurate as a general remark, 
seems to give an additional reason for not nipping the rye-crop in 
an imperfect state. Nevertheless, every cultivator's particular 
wants must be his practical guide, to prescribe to him whether 
he shall consume his crop when it is needed, or starve his cattle 
while he is bringing his crop to theoretical perfection. 
I will briefly notice one other useful quality of this crop, when 
cultivated for soiling. If it has been sown on deeply-ploughed 
and friable ground, when the land comes to be ploughed up for 
turnips it will be found that the stubble of each plant has attached 
to it a huge tuft of long fibres, retaining a considerable quantity 
of fine mould entangled between the fibres. After dragging and 
harrowing, if these be carted off, they will furnish an immense 
supply of dry absorbent matter for the bases and liquid ingredients 
of manure heaps, or for bedding the yards. Indeed it would be, 
in some instances, impracticable to drill turnips on land without 
removing them, so that unless the farmer resorts to the barbarism 
of burning so large a mass of useful vegetable matter, he is com- 
pelled to prepare for an economical management of his next 
dung-heap, whether he will or no. 
Inasmuch as the culture of this or any other grain cannot be 
perpetuated without setting by a certain portion of the crop to 
ripen for seed, it is worth while to look to the value of the straw. 
This, on good land, rises to the height of 6 or even 7 feet. With- 
out adverting to the utility of straw of that length for thatching, 
and for making reed screens for garden use, in places where 
marsh-reeds are not easily to be had, it is to be noted that this 
long straw has its peculiar value for collar-makers, since one 
length of it suffices to go entirely round the deepest collar^ even 
for the largest stallion ; and the author has been in the habit of 
selling what he has raised at the comfortable price of 5Z. per ton 
to his collar-maker for that purpose, which price, if a farmer can 
raise such straw after the rate of 1 1 London loads of straw to an 
acre, as the author has once done, may help to solace him for the 
hardship of devoting his land for a whole twelvemonth to the 
production of a single crop, and soften the burthens of rent and 
taxes. 
A further good quality which I have witnessed in rye, and 
which, though not generally applicable, may in some instances 
serve the farmer to a valuable purpose, is, that rye is a ])lant 
peculiarly susceptible of being excited and increased by irriga- 
tion ; while, from some appearances which I have noticed, I have 
reason to suspect that the wheat plant is injured, and even de- 
stroyed, by the same process. 
It may perhaps be asked, since the St. John's-day rye has been 
partially known in this country near thirty years from its first 
2 B 2 
