RYE: a species of grain much resembling wheat. It is very hardy and will grow in a soil too poor for the majority of other food grains. It thrives best, and is most productive, under conditions favorable to wheat. There are few clearly defined varieties, the principal division being into "winter" and "spring" rye. Of all the grains brought directly under cultivation it has been the least altered, the present product resembling closely the wild stock. Rye furnishes an excellent malt for the distillation of spirit. It is much used in Europe in the making of gin, and in this country in the manufacture of whisky. The Russian rye crop exceeds in quantity even the large figures of American wheat. Rye Flour is consumed in increasing quantities in the United States, chiefly by the foreign-born population, but also to a growing extent among other classes.