204 AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 



eed-bed and then transplanted, like a cabbage, or drilled, and 

 thinned out, and cultivated as turnips are. It should be sown 

 as early in spring as the temperature will permit. It is much 

 harder than any of the turnips, and in rich lands, apt to become 

 Stringy. We consider it worthy of more extended cultivation. 

 There are two varieties, the green and purple. Hertford 

 gives the nitrogen as 2.17 per cent. 



455. CABBAGE (Brassica oleracea.) Of this there is a great 

 number of varieties, most of them adapted to garden cultivation. 

 In some parts of Great Britain, the larger varieties are cultivat 

 ed in fields for the purpose of feeding cows and other stock ; 

 but in the United States, the price of labor, and the climate will 

 probably long preclude cabbages from being a field crop. They 

 require very rich clayey soils, as well as high cultivation. The 

 leaves average 92 per cent, and the stalks 84 per cent, of water. 

 The nitrogen is believed to be proportionally greater than in 

 any other plant consumed by man except perhaps mushrooms. 

 The flower of one species (cauliflower) in the dry state has been 

 found to contain as much as 64 per cent, of the flesh-forming 

 constituents (Johnston.) The inorganic constituents resemble 

 those required by the rest of the family, viz : the alkalies, sul 

 phuric, and phosphoric acids, and chlorine. 



456. RAPE. Two species of this are usually cultivated, Rape 

 or Cole (Brassica Napus) and Colza (B. campcstris.) The 

 use is twofold (a) as a forage plant; (b) to afford oil from 

 the seed, the cake of which is largely consumed as a ma 

 nure and as top dressing for wheat and other cereals. Rape is 

 a native of England ; is a hardy plant ; and has a wider range of 

 soils than the turnip. It requires also, less culture and manure ; 

 and can be produced under circumstances in which the turnip 

 cannot be profitably cultivated. The root is of no value. As a 

 pasture plant it is admirably adapted for sheep. Where the 

 climate will permit, it may be sown in spring, for fall feed. It 

 is usually drilled 24 inches apart, in the rows, and kept clean by 



