24 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 
try for feeding farm animals, as it is subject 
to a disease called ergot, that is harmful to 
cattle, especially. 
We used the expression “cover crop,” and 
stated that rye is very popular for this pur¬ 
pose. A cover crop is a crop sown on the 
land after the regular crop is removed, so that 
the land does, not wash, especially on hilly 
land, and that the organic matter of the soil 
can be replenished. It is a very common prac¬ 
tice, ill tljjs country, to sow this on the land 
after crop such as tobacco, has been removed. 
Rye is allowed to grow as high as it can dur¬ 
ing the fall of the year, and in the spring, 
before it is a foot high, it is plowed under. 
This greatly increases the humus matter of 
the soil, and thereby improves the physical 
texture of the soil. A common mistake amongst 
farmers, however, is to allow this rye to grow 
too rank, so that when it is plowed under, it 
interferes with the moisture coming up from 
the lower soil. This occurs when the rye 
is allowed to grow too tall. Consequently, if 
a dry season occurs, the following crop is shy 
of moisture, because of this interference with 
the natural capillary rising of moisture from 
the sub-soil to the top-soil. 
Rye will grow on nearly any kind of soil and, 
for this reason, is often raised on soils low in 
fertility. However, it does its best on rich soils. 
We have two distinct kinds of rye in this coun¬ 
try, known as winter rye and spring rye, but 
the winter rye is by far the most popular. 
Owing to the fact that rye is capable of mix¬ 
ing with other varieties, we have no distinct 
