The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-17
The Value of RYE Straw.

1t may not be known to most Of our
readers that there is very considerable
demand from saddlery manufacturers in
the different towns and cities of the west
for rye straw. That the article is scarce
is shown by the fact that the price is in
the neighborhood of $40 per ton. This
being more than the price realized from
the grain, should, in those localities or at
those points where the freight and other
transportation is not too high, make it
much more profitable crop than that Of
wheat at present prices. Rye is less ex-
haustiVe to the soil than wheat, will stand
the winter better than most varieties, and
is the best Ofall grains with which to seed
down either clover or timothy. Where
there is a market for the straw. the
grain and straw together should make
one OF the best cash crops on the farm
In order, however, to secure a market for
the straw, certain things must be OBJ
served. 1t must be cut before it is dead
ripe. This is no damage to the grain,
but rather an advantage, as either
wheat or rye will make a better
berry if cut before it is dead ripe,
or when it is hard dough than if
allowed to stand until the straw becomes
brittle. 1t can be cut with the ordinary
binder and should be shocked neatly and
threshed as soon as it is dry enough, or
If 1t is not intended to thresh in the fall
neatly stack, cover well and allow to
stand until 1t passes through the sweat
The threshing can be done with the
machine by the process known as
heading in the cylinder that is, by
holding the head of the sheaf in the
cylinder until the grain is removed
This involves some little loss of grain.
but very little, and this method of
threshing is imperative where the straw
is to be used for manufacturing purposes.
The threshed bundles should then be
stacked and covered until they are ready
for delivery. Within eight or ten miles,
or even further, of a city where there is
a manufacturing establishment, the
cheapest way of delivery is by wagon.
Where this is not practicable, and farm
ers are on line of railroad, the straw
can be pressed into bales, Weighing
say, one hundred pounds, and de-
ivered as easily as 50 much hay. The
baling process is a very simple one, and
the press can be made at an expense of
from 500 to $500. The Des MONIES Sad
dlery Company, of Des Moines. Iowa, will
be glad to furnish farmers with the neces-
sary instructions, which can be followed
by any farmer. The price of straw pre-
pared in this way is at present, in the
Des Moines market. $1,000 per ton. We
understand that in many OF the smaller
cities of Iowa and other states in the
west there are similar markets, and that
at present there is a great scarcity
of rye straw. This should not be.
Where the cost of transpOrta ton
is not too great, farmers can
well afford to raise rye straw, as the
yield from an acre is from q ton ton and
a half, which is more than is generally re-
ceived from the rye itself. Taking into
consideration the value of the straw for
manufacturing purposes, the hardness of
the plant and the great advantage in seed
ing down to clover and timothy crop,
we think that farmers have been giving
too little attention to this crop, and cs-
pecially in view of the fact that in sea
sons of the failure of the wheat crop in
Europe, there is an export demand for rye
that makes it, as it did two years ago, al
most as valuable as wheat