348 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



eat more than is good for them. Feeders of stock 

 find the better plan is to cut the rape and feed it 

 with grain and dry fodder in stable and feed lot. 



Other methods are to sow oats, and a fortnight 

 later sow rape, and harrow it in. The oats have 

 the start of the other crop; they are harvested 

 while the tops of the rape are short. Four weeks 

 later the field is just right to turn sheep into. As 

 fast as the tops are gnawed off new leaves are 

 formed. This pasture keeps on coming when 

 others are dry. 



Rape makes a good nurse plant for clover, which 

 is feeble in starting, and needs shade. This com- 

 bination forms a good cover crop in young or- 

 chards. Feeding off the rape does no great harm 

 once the clover becomes established. 



In this country the value of rape is not yet 

 realized by farmers and stock raisers. One visit 

 to a good English farm would convert them. 



For oil, the rape-seed is put through fanning 

 mills, and cleaned of all foreign bodies. Then it is 

 run through rollers, which reduce it to a paste. 

 Next, this paste is heated, and put under a pres- 

 sure of 2,840 pounds to the square inch. The oil 

 oozes from under the press, and is collected in 

 troughs that lead to reservoirs. The cake that 

 remains is ground and sold for stock food, as rape- 



