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Rye As A Cover Crop

Categories: OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS

As has been stated elsewhere, the plant that

stores nitrogen in its organic matter is most desirable, but the

greater part of the soil's stock of humus did not come through legumes.

Among the good cover crops is rye, both on account of its ability to

grow under adverse conditions and because it produces a large amount of

material for the soil. When seeded in the early fall, its roots fill

the soil the following spring,
and the tops furnish all the material

that can be plowed down with safety. In northern latitudes it is the

most dependable of all winter cover crops, making some growth in poorly

prepared seed-beds and on thin land. The most value is obtained from

early seedings, thus securing a good fall growth. Two bushels of seed

are sufficient in good ground seeded ten weeks before winter begins,

but two or three pecks should be added to this amount if the rye can be

given only a few weeks of growth before frost locks up the soil. Rye

can grow in warm spells of winter, and starts early in the spring. It

uses up some available fertility that might otherwise be lost, and

releases it when it rots in the ground.



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