298 FORAGE CROPS 



heavy they are somewhat liable to roll over on the 

 back and so perish. They do not require any 

 water when feeding upon rape, but should have 

 access to salt at will. 



"There is no limit to the numbers that maj^ be 

 put upon one field except its capacity to sustain 

 them. The labor of hurdling does not seem neces- 

 sary, as the sheep waste very little of the rape. 

 When it has grown strong and rank, they feed 

 around the borders. Like an invading army of 

 crawling insects, they make clean work as they 

 go, but when the crop is light and thin they feed 

 in any portion of it." 



Rape is also good forage for cattle, although, 

 when fed to dairy cows, it is liable to contribute 

 undesirable flavors to milk and its products, even 

 though fed after milking, as recommended for 

 turnips or other members of this family of plants. 



In experiments at the Wisconsin Agricultural 

 Experiment Station (Bulletin No. 115) to deter- 

 mine the quality of cheese as affected by the feed- 

 ing of rape and other forage plants, it was found 

 that whenever the rape was fed before milking, 

 there was, in most cases, a very pronounced rape 

 flavor; when fed just after milking, there was also 

 a very noticeable flavor. In no case was the 

 amount fed larger than ten pounds per day, al- 

 though it was all consumed between the morning 

 and night milking. In fairness to the rape, it is 



