276 
GROWING RYE. 
maturity to the seed being the produce of a 
warmer climate, more than to its being a dis¬ 
tinct variety, as we hear of its degenerating 
when grown from seed the produce of this coun¬ 
try. If it is so, it adds another argument, so 
often advocated, of the importance of a judicious 
change and selection of seeds. And at the 
same time, it shows that some good to the farmer 
may come of the proposed repeal of the duty 
on foreign seeds, as the duty on French sain¬ 
foin is now a very considerable item in its cost. 
-- 
GROWING RYE. 
Moses Baker, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, grew 
winter rye last year at the rate of 31% bushels 
to the acre, after corn, upon ground so poor 
when he took it in hand, his neighbors told him 
he could not get the seed back again. The 
crop this year is still better, and he thinks 
equal to 40 bushels to the acre. In measuring, 
the half bushel was heaped considerably. 
The secret of growing such a crop, where it 
had been considered useless for years before to 
make the attempt, is very important, and now 
made public by Mr. B.’s permission. This is 
it: The soil is a granitic, dark-colored loam, 
based upon a hard pan of compactly cemented 
gravel. He commenced upon four and a half 
acres in the spring of 1849, and by hard scrap¬ 
ing got three or four loads of manure to the 
acre, to which he added 50 barrels of fish and 
35 bushels of shell lime, and then put the plow 
up to the beam, and harrowed and plowed 
again and planted corn. The yield was 46 to 
50 bushels to the acre. As soon as ripe enough 
to cut up, he removed the corn and manured 
with 18 ox-cart loads to the acre, (say one and 
a half tons to a load,) of compost, made of sea 
muck, road wash, sods, weeds, leaves, and every 
substance that will decay, even bushes, and of 
course, all the butcher’s offal, bones, and stuff 
from the kitchen, &c. He plowed and harrowed 
heavily, and sowed in September, one and a 
half bushels of rye to the acre, and harrowed 
in smooth. Upon half an acre, which every¬ 
body said was so poor it would not sprout rye, 
he put 100 pounds of guano, and this made a 
bigger growth than the remainder. After the 
ground froze, so he could cart over it, he put 
upon each acre six loads of compost, as a top¬ 
dressing, to prevent winter-killing. At harvest, 
the straw was generally seven feet high, and 
sold, after threshed, for seven tons, bringing 
$42, besides what he used, from the four and a 
half acres. The grain weighed 56| pounds to 
the even bushel. The stubble was turned in 
with ten loads of manure to the acre, and sowed 
with a bushel and three pecks of seed, and 
afterwards top-dressed with six loads. The 
growth, last spring, was so rank it was neces¬ 
sary to feed it off, and the present crop is the 
wonder and admiration of that part of the - 
country, demonstrating as it does, that the land 
had not run out for rye—it was only the owners 
who had run out of common sense, and ex¬ 
pected crops without expending money or labor 
to fertilise or till before planting the seed. 
One man, who had been a farmer 80 years, 
came several miles to see what he had never 
seen before, a crop of rye that would yield 30 
bushels to the acre. How many Rhode-Island 
farmers will be induced by this account to put 
in a crop in the same way this season? Per¬ 
haps not one, except it be some book farmer 
from New-York city, like Mr. B., who was 
laughed at for supposing he could grow rye 
and corn upon that poor old worn-out farm. 
•-- 
PREMIUM FAT CATTLE. 
Ever since our cattle shows have been insti¬ 
tuted, we have been pained to see the great 
waste of food and time expended in getting up 
those enormous masses of fat and grease which 
are loaded on the frames of the beasts denom¬ 
inated at the head of this article. There is no 
good in it whatever, other than as showing the 
wonderful capacity of the creature to take on 
flesh—an almost dead loss to the feeder, and of 
little or no profit to the consumer. Tallow is 
usually less in price than either good beef or 
mutton ; and when the animal is fatted to a 
good butcher’s carcass, it has arrived at its most 
profitable destination. But so long as the view¬ 
ing committees at the cattle shows will, regard¬ 
less of cost or profit, bestow the premiums on 
nothing but over-fed animals, we see little 
chance for a reform in this matter. Indeed, we 
can imagine no object to the grazier nor feeder, 
in thus stuffing their beasts to such ungainly 
proportions, unless to gratify their pride in 
showing the creatures at the annual exhibitions 
and to gain a reputation, and enjoy the specta¬ 
cle of seeing their cattle trucked out in ribbons, 
and perambulating the city streets with a band 
of music, followed by butcher boys, and a 
gaping multitude, in admiration of they hardly 
know what. No good housekeeper ever buys 
such beef for his own table; and no sensible man 
certainly will ever eat it when cooked, unless 
he prefer to make an Esquimaux of himself, and 
then he might fare quite as well on seal or fish 
blubber at a quarter the expense. We consider 
the whole system, from the fattening of the 
beast to consuming the flesh, wrong throughout. 
