The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1892-12-10
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
ADVANTAGES OF RYE AS A
GREEN MANURE.
Tho Hest Way to Destroy Rcd Root
Breeding and Feeding swine
horticultural Hints and
Household Helps.
rye Id . oreen Manure.

oil England there Is q necessity for
some crop 10 cover the land during
the winter. English farm expert
ments show that much Of the soluble
nitrogen found In the soil IN fall Ia
washed out by the steady rainfall
which usually takes the place OF our
snow In the English winter. Here
during winter the ground Is frozen.
and the loss from naked surface ia
more apt TO be from blowing away OF
fine particles mellowed by frost and
which are always the richest soil.
Very possibly this dry soil holds
some OF the nitrogen contained in the
lower stratas as frost disintegrates
them. The fact that fertility natur-
ally tends to surface soil may thus re-
ceive further explanation. But how
ever frozen the ground may be dur
ing the winter. In the spring 1t Is al
ways flooded and much of its accumu-
lated fertility Is washed out by spring
rains. Then IL is that rye crop COW
ering the surface does most good. In
helping to dry the soil sucking up by
its numerous roots the water it also
holds from waste the plant food that
it contains. 1t is true green rye is
not very rich manure. But 1t has
the moisture which stable manure too
often lacks BY combining the two q
better result is obtained. especially
with hoed crops than by using either
stable manure or rye alone
Sowing rye after hoed crops In the
foil hoo annfh hos vv,nof aToot
in cleaning out millions OF the pesti-
lent annual weeds says the American
Cultivator There are moro or less
OF these In most stubble or hoed crops
towards fall aud unless the land il
plowed many OF these weeds will seed.
Specimens of weeds are sometimes
found dwarfed by clover or grass yet
each out OF sight periects some seeds.
Most weeds will ripen seeds after
frost has killed other Vegetation.
The fall blowing that is necessary to
seeding with rye destroys these weeds
before they seed. 1t also by exposing
fresh surface starts thousands OF
weed seeds to growing. and that so
late in the season that they cannot
ripen seeds before winter.
There Is no better way to destroy
red root the great pest of the wheat
grower. than to SOW rye every fail a
few years and pillow it under early the
following spring. II a dressing OF
manure is applied with the rye each
winter this plan keeps up fertility
while still growing a crop every year.
After the annual weeds are thus
steamed out from the land IL is easy
70 get clover or grass growth free
from weeds such as was impossible
before.
Rye does not exhaust land. when
grown thus 1t Is not SO exhaustive
as wheat when it is grown for the
grain. But il plowed under just as It
is about to head. there Is large mass
OF succulent vegetable matter that
has been grown either by what its
leaves get from the air or from plant
food in the soil that without 1t would
have been entirely wasted. The farm.
er who delights in what he regards as a
stolen crop something he gets mere.
ly for the cost OF seed and the labor
OF sowing. ought surely to delight
sowing rye for green manure. Acrop
OF manure Is. whether he knows It
or not what he needs more than any
thing else. Wherever he has land in
corn or potatoes let him SOW rye in the
fall II will pay even II plowed early
in April for spring grain. But 1t will
pay still better II the land is In good
heart by putting on some more ma
nure and blowing later for another
hoed crop or for fodder corn.
1t is thus that some dairymen are
able on little land TO keep great
many COWS and grow much more OF
the feed than would be supposed.
They SOW rye after fodder corn every
fall and with the large amount OF
rich manure made from purchased
grains they are able to manure heav-
lily, so that it is all the pillow can do
in spring to turn the growth of rye
and the dressing OF COW dung under.
1t Is thus that some OF the largest
crops OF fodder corn have been grown.