The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-11-14
RYE A PROFITABLE CROP.
1t Pays Better Than Wheat in This
Section-It is Valuable For
Straw.
From the philadelphia Record.


In Europe rye is regarded as one of the
most important crops grown, but in this eoun-
try it is largely displaced by wheat; yet rye
will grow where wheat viii not thrive, and
there is no kind of soil, from sand TO clay.
that will not produce full or partial crop if
seeded to rye. 1t is hardy, standing the
severest of winters, and can be depended npon
when other crops have met with drawbacks.
1t is grown largely for its straw, but it has
long served as late and early pasturage for
cattle, furnishing green food late in the fall,
after grass has ceased, and coming up sutfi-
GENTLY early in the spring to afford green food
while grass is too short Rye also grows at
season of the year when the land could not
be made to produce anything and serves as a
covering to the soil. 1t rivals crimson clover
as an early starting plant, and can be plowed
under early in the spring in time for potatoes,
but it possesses sufficient value as a crop 10 be
harvested On sandy soils where wheat has
never beer grown, good crops OF rye have
been secured, being indispensable in some
sections, not only for its grain, but also for its
straw, which commands higher price in
market than that from wheat.
STRAW AS A CROP.
1t is seldom that any crop is grown for its
straw, but rye is an exeeption.in that respect.
An ordinary crop of rye should give ton of
straw and from II to 20 bushels of grain. ac-
cording to the soil upon which it has been
grown. The grain viii more than pay for the
labor of blowing, harvesting and threshing,
leaving the straw to be sold, and it will bring
fully as much in the markets of the large
cities as hay, being preferred by liverymen
and those owning private stables, as the straw
is usually unbroken and in bundles. The
objection to rye is that it has heretofore been
threshed by hand, in order TO avoid breaking
the straw, but there are now threshers which
remove the grain without damaging the straw.
Considering that rye is seeded in the fall, and
can be gotten out of the way for another crop
the same year it is harvested, the straw is al
most clear profit. Probably a comparison
with wheat will show that in value of both
grain and straw rye is the more profitable in
this section of the country.
STRAW AND MANURE.
Those who have tested the selling of rye
straw with using it on the farm claim that it
is tae one crop that can profitably be sold off
the farm instead of attempting TO get more
from it through the agency of stock. The
actual manurial value of rye straw, if added
to the manure heap, is estimated at about 81
per ton, while the price of rye straw, bundled,
has reached from SIS to SO per ton. Wheat
straw, on the contrary, is worth only one-third
as much, and at times possesses little or no
value in market, but rye straw is always in
demand. As the straw carries away but a
small proportion of the fertility of the soil
compared with its selling price, it is more
profitable to market it and buy fertilizers, the
farmer thus being not only enabled to restore
that removed from the soil by the crop of rye.
but also is provided with fertilizer for the sue
ceeding crop. With rye and crimson clover
the farmer can add to his pasturage and enrich
l.. ...,l 80 A t,ft.
trial of rye as a crop, where there is con-
venient market for the straw, will demon
strate that it is far above the average as pay
ing crop when all of its other advantages are
also considered. Those who seeded to rye
this fall will save loss of plantfood by the COW
ering afforded as well as utilize land that
would otherwise be left in stubble or weeds.