32 FAEM PRACTICE 'with FORAGE CROPS IN OREGON, ETC. 



(5) From 3 to 4 pounds of rape seed per acre are also sown with 

 corn just before the last cultivation. The seed is then covered by 

 the cultivator and the rape comes on and makes good pasture as 

 soon as the corn is harvested. It may also be sown with potatoes, 

 but it does not succeed so well with them as with corn, for the digging 

 of the potatoes destroys much of the rape. Sown after early potatoes 

 are dug, it gives good pasture during the late fall and early winter. 



THE SEED CROP. 



Good rape seed is now produced in the Willamette Valley and the 

 region about Puget Sound, and there is no reason why farmers should 

 not produce their own seed. Rape is a biennial and does not produce 

 seed when sown in the spring until the second year. If sown in 

 September or October it matures seed the following June. Rape 

 may be cross-fertilized by kale, cauliflower, and other closely related 

 plants. It is believed to cross also Avith wild mustard and wild 

 turnips; hence none of these plants should be allowed to grow near 

 rape that is intended for seed. 



For seed, rape should be sown alone, and it is very desirable to 

 haA'e in it drills in order to cultivate it and keep it free from the 

 plants mentioned. Rape that is planted in drills in the spring may 

 be used for soiling during the sunnner and fall, carried through the 

 winter, and used for a seed crop the second season. If sown entirely 

 for a seed crop, it may be planted in the fall — September or October^ — 

 after some early crop has been removed. To retard development of 

 the plants so that the seed will mature after the late spring rains are 

 over, it should be pastured or cut back about the last of April or the 

 first of ISIay. If ripe rape gets wet the seed shatters very readily, and 

 the retardation of the development of the crop is often very necessary 

 in order to liaA-e good Aveather for harvesting the seed. 



Rape should be cut for seed when the first seeds are turning brown. 

 It may be cut with a binder or a self-raking reaper. It should be 

 shocked in such manner that it will dry out quickly. Birds destroy 

 considerable of the seed ; hence it should be thrashed as soon as dry. 

 If the crop is not too extensive a man with a team and sled may drive 

 from shock to shock and thrash it by hand. If a thrashing machine 

 is used, it should be hauled to the machine in tight-bottomed racks, or 

 canvas should be spread over the racks to catch the shattered seed. 

 It is said that a yield of 1,000 pounds of seed to the acre is not unusual 

 in the Willamette Valley. 



Seed may be purchased of local seedsmen. When buying seed, 

 however, one should always call for Dwarf Essex rape. There are 

 a number of varieties of rape, some of which are annuals and are 

 grown only for bird seed. If these annuals are sown in the spring 



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