266 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



another kind may succeed ; and that animals thrive better upon 

 a variety of food than when confined to a single sort is a point 

 well established. 



11. RAPE. This crop is seldom, within my observation, cul 

 tivated for seed, but as a green crop, for the purpose of feeding 

 sheep, which are soiled or folded upon it. In some parts of the 

 country it is sown in August, to be fed early in the ensuing 

 spring ; but it would not endure our winters. It is most gen 

 erally sown in May, and at successive times, so as to provide a 

 continuance of the feed, and comes into eating in about three 

 months after being sown. It is sometimes sown broadcast, and 

 left under a slovenly cultivation, to take its chance ; but it is ad 

 visable to sow it in drills about twelve inches apart, and then the 

 weeds may be extirpated, and it may be kept clean by the hoe. 

 In such case about four pounds of seed are sown upon an acre. 

 Sheep, being folded upon it, gain flesh rapidly; and the ground, 

 in that case, is much enriched for a crop of wheat, or other grain, 

 which may be sown after it is thus fed off. It must be com 

 pletely fed off before it passes out of blossom. I was told, in 

 Lincolnshire, that the ears of lambs which are thus fed upon it 

 are often made so sore by some acrid matter which proceeds from 

 it, as sometimes to lose their ears; but whether this was stated 

 for the benefit of my credulity or not, I am not certain. I can 

 only say that, if which I am not willing to believe it was told 

 me with that view, the relater would himself deserve to have 

 his own ears gently clipped. The ear is said to swell, ulcerate, 

 and drop off. Another farmer, on whose opinion I place great 

 reliance, speaks of this crop as too heating to the blood of young 

 sheep, and advises, where they appear affected by it, to bleed 

 them in the nose and give them salt. I always regard a preven 

 tive as much more valuable than a remedy ; and confess, if such 

 were likely to be the usual effects of feeding upon this plant, I 

 should be very cautious in advising its cultivation. It is much 

 grown, however, for the purpose of feed, in Yorkshire and Lin 

 colnshire, and these objections were not frequently made to it. 



When this plant is grown for seed, the yield is represented as 

 about thirty bushels per acre ; but it is then deemed a great ex 

 hauster of the soil, and will not bear a repetition under five or 

 six years. Cole and rape, though often spoken of as the- same 



