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VOL. XXXI.
..INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JULY 4, 1896.,
NO. 27
EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
THE VALUE OF BYE AND HOW IT IS
GBOVK. ■-
MakeB a Meat  ana   Grain Crop the
Same Year.
What Men Say Who Grow Rye.
Rest Soils For the Crop.
lst Premium—My opinion is that
only a few farmers properly appreciate
tie value of rye. Its value consists in
being an excellent forage crop, being
more certain of a yield than wheat, better
than other small grains for seeding down
to timothy and clover, and finally, because li not only Is not hard on gronnd
but actually improves it. From time to
time I have grown it upon my farm and
I find all of the above statements true. I
sow rye the,first days of September-
want to be entirely throngh by the 6th,
drill in standing corn at the rate of one
bushel clean seed per acre, using aaix-
hoed one-horse drill. If it isa favorable
fall you will have a fine growth,-and during March and April up to May 10th or
15th you-can.pasture it in moderation
with ewes and lambs; or calves, then
take off and still have a fair crop. Yonr
pasture thus gained' will pay for labor
and seed and the grain will be clear gain.
:ti^.'*i7B^'ftrt.fvi^
15 bushels per acre. Or-you can turn
four market steers on about April lst,
keeping up their grain ration for a few
| days, and see how they will improve,
Rye does not seem to make them scour as
I yonng grass does at first; and yon. can
have a month's excellent grazing before
the bluegrass -pasture is ready. Then
you can let it ripen and fall down and
hog it, turning on after the beards softens
somewhat, and by that -means make
pounds of pork cheap, and the droppings
and decayed straw will be of great value
I to your field and make a good preparation for corn., Finally, rye straw has
considerable, commercial value, especially to liyerymen and nurserymen: To
get that of course it must be threshed and
the grain ground and fed, but to the average farmer keeping live stock, the
great gain lies along the line Indicated
I above. A. B. Mi__,i_ig___n.
Owen Co. ,
2nd Premium.—Kye is considered a
I valuable crop by many, not only as a
I cereal for marketable purposes, but also
1 when grown as a- fertilizer. My experi-
I ence with rye as a crop is that I raise less
I of it to the acre than I do of wheat and
I that it is worth less per bushel. There is
I however, one thing to be said in its favor:
I it will shade and protect young clover
I tad assist very materially in getting a
h-and, and perhaps it should* further be
■ suggested in this day of economy that its
Istraw is more'valuable than that of
I wheat as a feed, both in. quantity and
j.uality. ,Rye has probably been sown
|~aore extensively of late year»'- for a fer-
jtilizer than ever before. Perhaps the
I cheapest method of sowing for fertilizer
I |s to sow in corn, just after the last plowing. In this .case it must be sown" im,
1 mediately, or at least before a rain, as the
pain will to some extent beat down and
I harden the surface ofthe ground and the
I Vtain will - not be covered. I have been
I'n the habit of sowing from horseback.
I1'your horse objects to having his ears
pied with grain fasten a mosquito net
|°ver them,
While I have been very successful .in
retaining a stand in that manner it will
lordly be ag even or as accurate as if
l^wed with a drill. The difference will
l«aount to but little - unless the succeed-
|a>g season should be dry like the last, in
I-"lich case yoti will find it advisable to
l-at the crop for the grain.  Qne who has
never seen a crop of rye that has been
washed over will hardly realize what a
wonderful mesh of roots fill the soil.
When these are turned over"_on top of a
heavy crop of rye it causes the ground to
be very open and loose. The heat of the
snn aided by that caused by fermentation
causes the open, porous soil to dry rapid;
ly, while its great porosity prevents it
from raising subsoil moisture as" would
a more compact seed bed. In onr part of
the country last year all corn planted on
rye ground was a failure. One could tell
to the row Just where the rye soil ended.
This has'caused the. report from some
sources that rye is of no value as a fertilizer, but while my experience with it in
this respect has been exclusively on bottom land, I believe, for a hard clay soil,
that rye sown thick, as described above,
and turned under late the next spring
might be a great benefit both in loosening up and fertilizing the soil.
,Hancock Co. ',..'■  Rob Roy.
3d Premium.—Light soil that contains but little nitrogen is the best for
rye, especially if it is sown for the grain.
A soil rich in nitrogenous matter will
produce a rank growth of straw but a deficient crop of grain. Rye will succeed
better on high, dry soil than' upon low
wetland.' ltis best to put a cultivated
crop of corn or potatoes before rye, to use
up any excess of nitrogen that may be
present in the soil. Therefore ground
shPH'^yajjtJbe fertilized-_wit__^;^ta]))e
nure for rye, unless it is Intended for pas
ture. According to the report of the experiment stations of 18p0 potash did not
increase the amount of straw, but increased the e;ain of grain* two or three
fold. I pronounce rye a valuable crop
for pasture. It should be sown abont the
last of August or the first of September
for fall or winter pasture. If the stock Is
taken off about the middle of April it will
make a crop of grain. When I sow rye
for the grain alone 1 sow it about the last
of September or first of October. I first
prepare my gronnd as for wheat; then I
drill from three-fourths of a bushel to a
bushel to the acre, which will make it
plenty thick. I usually sow some rye in
my corn when it is laid by, for fall and
winter pasture; in which case I sow a
bushel and a peck of seed per acre. Rye
is also a valuable crop to plow under as a
fertilizer. _ When sown early and pastured through fail and winter and let
grow up in the spring, it may be plowed
down about the last of April or first of
May, and if planted to corn and we have
plenty of rain I can almost insure a good
crop. Every industrious farmer knows
that it does not pay to butcher in a crop
of any kind. I always drill a little fertilizer with rye as we have a clay soil
here. A Hoosier.
Harrison Co. •
ifPHe^Sm^
Rye is a valuable plant because it can
be pastured and then make a crop. Rye
should be planted early in the autumn,
before the wheat is sown. The ground
should be well prepared as for any other
crop. As we should all know,'if we only
half prepare the ground we need only to
expect a half crop of any thing. Rye
will make a much better yield on light
soil than on low, heayy soil, as on the
latter it will make too much straw, and
the grain will be light And on the light
soil it will not make so much straw and
the grain will be" much larger and heavier. Rye will do very well planted after
a corn crop or potato crop, or any other
cultivated crop, as the ground will be in
better condition to • make a good crop of
rye. Rye should be drilled with abont
one and one-fourth bushel to the acre,
with abont -200 pounds of good fertilizer
per acre. Stable manure should be
avoided as much as possible, as it makes
the straw1: too rank a growth. Clover
shonld never be turned nnder for rye, for
the same reason as stable manure.  It
should be planted early in the fall, as it
makes so much good  early pasture, and
can be pastured until  about  the  15th of
April and then make a crop of rye.
Harrison Co. . * J. D. I_. •
BEVIEW.
The writer grew rye this year the flrst
time, and violated two conditions named
by our correspondents. Sowed on clover
sod where hogs had fattened. What a
mess I have. The bundles look like bags
of wool with a string tied around them.
My neighbors sow it broadcast, riding
a horse, using a seeder or by hand. Sometimes this is done immediately after the
last cultivation of corn. Sometimes a
Planet Jr. is rnn after sowing. It is usually sown for pasture. Some sow crimson
clover for the good lt will do, even if it
dies in winter and we think that rye will
save enongh nitrogen from washing away
to give considerable pasture and still be
helpful to the soil. -
You know nature never leaves her soil
naked when she is undisturbed by man.
As a fertilizer rye is not like clover, it
does not add nitrogen or other fertility;
lt simply renders plant food soluble and
available. One of the greatest benefits of
rye is the pasture, and another Is the humus it adds to the soil. But we should
remember ' that if turned under quite
green, before even heading it contains
very little vegetable matter to make humus,
^fr»m^t§_^^
*.-f'.l,
No. 20, July 11.—How do yon save and
use manure.
No. 21, July 18.—Preparing ground for
wheat and sowing on fallow or in corn.
No. 22, July 25.—Experience with winter oats.     ,
No. 23, Aug. 1.—What social, intellectual
and spiritual opportunities do you enjoy
in the home life and surroundings of your
family.
No. 24, Aug. 8.—Digging and storing potatoes.
No. 25, Aug. 15.—Economical hog feeding for market—(does not include breeding).
on rye.
FLORIDA AS I SAW IT.
What Another Indiana Man Says of the
Oountry..
Editobs Indiana Fabm-Es:
The fore part of June I spent six ■ days
in the highlands of Florida around Chip-
ley, and for the benefit of some of your
readers will give my impression of the
country. I found the crops in a flourish,
ing condition with few exceptions. Corn,
oats, cotton, rice, sugar cane, peanuts and
sweet potatoes seem to be the staple field
crops. I also saw a great many Irish potatoes, but my impression is tbat they do
not do [as well as in tlie North, but
may be mistaken, ln the fruit line are
peaches, pears, plums, mulberries and
grapes. The latter yields abundantly—it
seems to be the home of the grape. The
peach tree seems to overbear, and If they
are not thinned you cannot expect much
of a crop every alternate year."
.There seemed to be more pear orchards
than any other kind of fruit. They certainly have faith in pears. But I found
about two-thirds of thep ear trees affected
with blight, but the residents seem unconcerned abont it They say it is a different blight from the Northern blight, that
it seldom kills a tree—comes once only
in every 15 years. Wheat is not raised
there,but an old Northern farmer toldd me
who has resided there several years, that
he experimented with wheat on a small
scale and is convinced that wheat can be
raised at the rate of 40 bushels per acre-
I think'the: soil lacks lime for wheat
but that can be easily supplied. ■■-'-•
Tbe woods are full of cattle and sheep.
The cattle are scrubs of course, bnt as
they cost them next to nothing they
make a fair profit on them. The sheep
look about as well as the ordinary sheep
do in the North-but the mystery to m e is
with so many razorbacks running in the
woods they can raise any lambs at all.
I suppose it is hit or miss.
The razorback seems to be monarch of
all he surveys, for I saw him almost everywhere except in the parlors, so I
suppose he has his limits. He costs his
owner practically nothing until be is old
enough to. turn into the peanut patch to
fatten.
In my six days' ramble through field
and forest with Mr. Chandlee, I would
not havetbeen much surprised at any
time to have stumbled over a 10-foot
snake, but only saw two small ones_
both of the blueracer tribe. So I believe snakes are scarce and very scarce.
I saw or felt no mosquitoes. Saw no
large horseflies as are common in tbe
North. They have house flies the year
round, but not so numerous as in the
North. They seldom have to use a fly
brush. Bees do exceedingly well. A resident told me that he took 100 pounds of
honey from one stand in one season.
I visited' the Kentucky farm, the
Danley farm end several others who
formerly lived in. the North, and found
them as represented by other writers to
the Fabmeb. They all seem to be prospering. Mr. Bryant has'made the Ken'
tucky farm blossom as the rose,  ne is a
stlei
ire-fe^DOi
>'Orie pleasing feature aroufact Chipley *&_•->:
the absence of mnd. - It showered neatly _• 1
every day I was .there but no mud ap-   ,
peared, and they- also say that it; never
gets dusty. ■'.•>'-.        -
I. went down'there, to find the drawbacks, but as I could hot find them, and
the residents would not tell me, I only
have ;to guess __t them; and these are
my conclusions: High shipping rates, no
competition; no farm machinery, the
work nearly all done by hand on account
of stumps and fruit trees. There aro
probably other drawbacks which I will
learn after we live there a while. I expect to locate there next fall if nothing
prevents.
; The soil, I think, is not as rich as our
Northern soil. We must not expect too
many good things together.      W. J. K.
Cass Co.
»_._. _.-_!
Experience with Crimson Clover.
Ed_tobs Indiaha Fabmeb:
Situated about 60 miles due west of Indianapolis, we sowed four acres of crimson clover last year on the 12th and 19th
of July. Sowed in corn after last plowing, soil was very rich and loose, did not
harrow or brush it in, came up quickly
and in spite of an exceptionably dry fall,
it about coveredthe ground at corn gathering time.. Some places it was thin, as wo
have* only sown one bushel. It, came
through the winter in flne shape. When
in full bloom (about middle of May), we
harrowed it down in order to turn it under, and now have a fine corn crop growing there. The bees soared on the bloom
all day. We regard It as one of the best
crops for a farmer to grow, to enrich
the ground. Stock of all kinds are very
fond of it Rabbits eat off some ot the
young plants. This is the second season
we have sown it We had one field of
volunteer clover from last season's seeding. Onr cornfield was very rich, producing near 80 bushels of corn per acre. Be
sure and sow early, never later than August lst. We have no seed for sale, and
write this hoping to induce others to give
crimson clover a trial. Success to the
Fabmbb. j. g.
Parke Co.      '
- .
A small son of Mrs. Quinby Teller, of
Gilmer county, West Virginia, fell into a
little brook and drowned in two inches of
water.' _ •
* 1-.
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