'814 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



RAPE IN STUBBLE. 



W. F. KELLEY BEFORE SOUTH DAKOTA SHEEP BREEDERS' ASSOCIATION. 



The rape plant is so generally known that it is not necessary for 

 me to give much of a description of it. Webster places it with the cab- 

 bage tribe. He also speaks of it as resembling a turnip. It seems to 

 be a cross between the two plants, partaking somewhat of the nature of 

 both. It is eaten greedily by all kinds of farm animals, but seems par- 

 ticularly adapted for sheep. 



South Dakota is placed in the semi-arid belt. We in the eastern part 

 •of the state resent being placed there, but we must admit that it gets 

 verj; dry here sometimes. 



In the early part of the growing season there is a very rapid growth 

 -of all kinds of grasses, both native and domestic, but too often it hap- 

 pens, in the latter part of the season, that our pastures wither and dry 

 under the burning suns of July and August. Then, and from that time 

 on clear through the autumn months, it seems a positive necessity that 

 we should have some green, succulent food to take the place of our 

 withered pastures if we get the growth on our lambs that we should. 



In the eastern states during this period they practice a system of 

 soiling. In the spring they sow oats and peas together; later they sow 

 or drill in corn or sorghum, and go out each day and mow sufficient for 

 Ihe needs of that day, thereby tiding them over the dry period. 



But that plan seems to slow for the farmer of South Dakota; our 

 farms are too large. Farm help is too scarce and high priced to admit 

 of us trying that plan. South Dakota will undoubtedly come to that, 

 but the time is not yet ripe, and for the present we think there is a bet- 

 ter and an easier way, and that is by sowing rape seed in our grain 

 fields in the spring, to be pastured off after the grain is harvested and 

 stacked. We have been practicing this plan for some years with the best 

 results. I presume many of my hearers have already tried sowing rape 

 with grain. I do not presume to teach these people anything on this 

 subject, but to those that have not tried it, with their permission, I 

 will give my experience with rape in stubble. 



I would choose a grain field, and let it be a large one, that I intended 

 -planting to corn the following year. Then you need not plow until 

 spring, thus giving the sheep the run of the field the entire fall. I 

 would sow ten acres of that field by mixing the rape seed with the first 

 grain that is sown in the spring at the rate of two and one-half to three 

 pounds to the acre, but do not sow it this early with barley, for if you 

 do so the chances are that you will harvest more rape than barley. I 

 would sow the rest of the field anywhere from the 15th to the 25th of 

 May, going over the field thus sown with a light harrow. 



Do not be afraid of damaging the grain by harrowing it, for I assure 

 you you will not, but the very opposite will be the result. You will 

 benefit your grain, you will kill very many weeds and cover your rape 



