THOUSAND-HEADED KALE. 



33 



they produce seed the same year and are liabU' to become serious 

 pests -when once introchiced. Comphiint has hccu made that Dwarf 

 Essex rape becomes a weed, but it is easily controHed. It does not 

 pro(hice seed until the second season, and if jjlowed under iluring the 

 fall, winter, or spring no seed can be produced. 



THOUSAND-HEADED KAI,E. 



Thousand-headed kale (lirnftsica oleracea) has been grown in the 

 "Willamette Valley for -11 years. It attracted little attention among 

 the dairymen until recent years, but is now rapidly becoming a very 

 popular fall and winter soiling crop. It stands the mild winters 



Fig. 2.— a field of thousand-headed kale on Martins Island, near Kalama, Wash. A valuable 

 winter soiling crop, available from October 1 to April 1. 



west of the Cascade Mountains admirably and is hauled from the 

 field and fed as needed. It does not head up like cabbage, and the 

 name " thousand-headed " is given it on account of the numerous 

 branches the plants have when given plenty of room. It is very 

 much like rape, but the plants are much taller and the leaves are 

 longer and broader. A field of this crop is shown in figure 2. It is 

 claimed that kale will yield 30 to 40 tons of green feed per acre 

 when grow'n under favorable conditions. 



Kale is used for table greens, but its chief use on the Pacific coast 

 is for feeding green to dairy cows from October to April, for which 

 it is highly prized. It would undoubtedly be an excellent winter 



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