Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/528

 504: RYE RYLAND in demand for bedding, bringing a good price in cities ; it is used for making straw mats for covering hotbeds and other garden uses, for stuffing horse collars, and other mechanical purposes. As a green fodder crop rye is val- uable ; the herbage after it is well established may be pastured late in autumn, and in early spring it affords succulent and nutritious food, which may be cut for cows from the time it is six inches high until the head is formed, when the stems become dry and useless. Rye is held in but little favor in England, its culti- vation being confined to some of the northern counties, while on the continent it is large- ly used, and in some localities is the com- mon breadstuff of the population ; its color is less pleasant than that of wheat, the bread made from it has a very dark color, and its taste and odor are to some disagreeable ; it is capable of making a light wholesome bread, though less nutritious than that of wheat, as Bye (Becale cereale). Head reduced, and single Splkelet enlarged. the grain contains from 2 to 8 per cent, less of nitrogenous principles. It was formerly the custom in England to sow two or three Earts of wheat with one of rye, the grains eing harvested and threshed together ; the mixture, called maslin or meslin (Lat. miscel- lanea), is said to be better when thus grown together than can be made from the grains grown separately; bread from maslin is re- garded as more nutritious than that from the poorer kinds of wheat. Rye meal is an in- gredient in the New England brown bread, the other ingredient being an equal or larger amount of Indian corn meal. The Swedish peasantry subsist largely upon rye cakes, which are thin flat disks with a hole in the centre by means of which they are strung upon sticks to dry ; they are baked only twice a year, and must be dried thoroughly. Rye is somewhat laxative, and a mush made from the meal is a suitable food for those troubled with con- stipation. The roasted grains have long been used as a substitute for coffee. Rye is used in Russia to distil a spirit called quass ; in Hol- land it is employed together with malt to make gin ; and in this country much whiskey is made from it. The grain is sometimes attacked by a minute fungus which causes it to change its form and grow into a horn-like body several times larger than the grain itself, and known as spurred rye ; where this occurs great cau- tion should be observed in using the grain for food, as it is highly poisonous. (See ERGOT.) The total production of rye in the United States, according to the census of 1870, was 19,918,795 bushels. The states producing the largest quantities were : Pennsylvania, 3,557,- 641 bushels; New York, 2,478,125; Illinois, 2,456,578; Wisconsin, 1,325,294; Kentucky, 1,108,983; Ohio, 846,890 ; Virginia, 682,264; New Jersey, 566,575 ; Missouri, 559,532 ; and Kansas, 505,807. RYE GRASS. See DARNEL. RYERSON, Adolphos Egerton, a Canadian cler- gyman, born near Victoria, Upper Canada (now Ontario), March 24, 1808. After being a teacher, he was ordained deacon in the Meth- odist church in 1825, and for four years was an itinerant minister. In 1829 he became edi- tor of " The Guardian," the official Methodist newspaper; in 1832, 1836, and 1840 was a delegate to the British conference ; and in 1842 became principal of Victoria college at Cobourg. In 1844 he was appointed superin- tendent of public schools for Upper Canada, and in 1849 submitted a plan for the organi- zation of the public school system, which was adopted. lie is now (1875) chief superinten- dent of education for Ontario. He has pub- lished a history of Canada, and has prepared a treatise on the " United Empire Loyalists," who emigrated from the United States to Brit- ish America in 1783. RYLAND, John, an English clergyman, born in Northampton, Jan. 29, 1753, died in Bristol, May 25, 1825. He was the son of the Rev. John Collett Ryland, Baptist pastor at North- ampton and afterward principal of a seminary at Enfield, author of " Contemplations on the Beauties of Creation," &c. (8 vols.), and other works. The son could read the Psalms in He- brew at five years of age, and had read through the Greek Testament before he was nine. In 1770 he preached before the Baptist congre- gation of Northampton, and for the next five years assisted his father in his school, and preached occasionally. In 1776 he became pastor of the Northampton congregation. In 1791 he wrote the circular letter which led to the formation of the English Baptist mission- ary society, in the organization of which he took part at Kittering in 1792. In 1793 he was called to Bristol as pastor of the Baptists in that city and president of the Baptist col- lege, continuing in both offices for nearly 33 years. In 1815 he was chosen secretary of the Baptist missionary society. He published