Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-09-17
Rye for Soiling.

has given special attention to grass and for.
age crops. and anything from his pen is sure
to be sensible advice. lie says in the New
England Farmer of September 4th.
Winter rye Is also coming TO be highly
valued as soiliug crop, by farmers who
make a speciality Of producing milk or but
ter for sale. Rye pasturage makes the best
Of pasturage for COWS or for young stock, but
it is more profitable, generally, to cut and
feed it 10 the barn than to let the cattle feed
it in the field. If one has pasture that is
ploughed and which can be seeded to rye
early in the fall it will produce excellent
feed for young cattle till cold weather, aud
may be fed again next July, and perhaps
later, if it can be prevented from going TO
seed We have only raised it for moving,
but some Of our neighbors have grown il in
pastures with very satisfactory results. As
soiling crop, it is particularly valuable, as
it comes early in spring before anything else
green can be cut for cattle food. Although
its season for cutting lasts but a short time,
usually about twenty days, it is one of the
best green crops for milcb COWS we have
ever grown. Up to the time of blooming,
it is eaten with great relish by all kinds Of
stock. Many farmers come short Of hay
nearly every spring, and their COWS are kept
on short allowance, or turned out TO pick
up scanty living from the old worn out
pastures. Under such treatment, the ami
mails lose flesh and are incapacitated for
yielding any profit from the food consumed.
There is no time when a farmer feels the
cost of keeping his cows as in a late spring,
when he is buying English hay at a cent or
more pound. We have within few years
paid as high as torty-four dollars per ton for
pressed hay, with which to carry out our
stock till feed in the pastures should be grown
sufficiently to furnish them subsistence.
At such times, a field of uxuriant green rye
is especially cheering, both to the stock aud
their keeper.
From repeated trials we have found green
rye equal in every respect, as food for cows,
to the best English hay, so long as the rye
is young and tender, and in the early part
Of the season of feeding it We always get
more milk and butter per week than when
feeding hay. Rye does we'll sown after early
potatoes, and it may, also, be grown on sward
land that is run out too much for moving
another year, if sufficient manure is applied
to give the rye a vigorous start in the fall
If sown after potatoes, tho land may be
seeded to grass with the rye, with fair pros
pect Of good catch. The rye is removed
so early in the season that the grass has a
much better chance than if the rye is left to
60 to seed.
The experiments By n subscriber show
what may be done by seeding rye and grass
together under favorable circumstances, as
when the rye is removed early in the sea son
SO that the grass may have q chance to grow
after the rye is cut. m
Within the past few years many farmers
within our knowledge have grown field Of
rye for feeding green to milch cows, and We
have yet to learn Of one who is dssatis fed
with the practice. IL farmer begins "a
raise such crops he genoraity keeps IL up, Us
much more fodder can pc produced upon a
farm by raising rye, corn fodder, green oats
etc, than if depending upon hay alone.
Winter rye may be grown without Interior
be sown after a crop has been removed, and
will DO out Of the way IN season for full
crops to succeed it next year.
We shall, this fall, make the experiment
Of growing a crop of rye for soiliug, by sow
ing it in an orchard after a crop Of Hunga
rian grass, aud removing the rye next May
10 season to put in another crop Of Hunga
rian, if desirable. Beans, potatoes, fodder
corn, cabbages, millet aud indeed, all kinds
Of farm or garden crops, with a few excep
tions, may be grown after crop Of green
rye has been cut for fodder, and it may b'
sown in the fall, alter everything except .
few very late growing crops, so that It really
takes no time which would be devoted tC
other crops, except perhaps, worthless weeds
But it cannot grow without plant food, anC
the richer the land the better the growth
in ordinary seasons. aar.e a.r
Ashes are very good special fertilizer 70
rye, in addition to u fair dressing OF stable
manure, and the various kinds Of CONNER
cal fertilizers prepared at the slaughterin
houses and glue factories, make excellen
dressings for this crop. If it so happen
that more rye is grown than is needed fol
feeding green, it may be cut and cured lik'
nay uuu Will nOJ COlhe-uIHlss III thO "ih1Oi
either for fodder or bedding for horses. w
know Of farmers who raise rye and oats spe
oially for bedding, instead OF gathering it iroI
the swamps and wet meadows, and polling
ashore few forkfuls at a time through mu
and water. Straw raised for this purpose
always cut as soon as it is fully grown, an
is much tougher, and more lasting as bed
ding than the straw Of threshed grain. Th
quantity of seed to be sown per acre vii
; depend upon several circumstances, as whethe
II is sown with or without grass seed, tn
lateness of the season, etc. For seeding wit
grass, bushsl and half Of good rye
enough to SOW per acre, but if sown alOD
double the quantity will not be too muc!
especially if it is put in rather late in tn
season. Grass will winter better sown th
middle or last Of October, with than with
out rye, as the latter helps protect it irOl
the frequent freezings aud thawlngs of wiz
ter and spring,
We feel perfect confidence 10 Recommend
ing all our dairy farmers to try piece
q rye for feeding green next spring, and it
/ about time now to put in the seed.
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