250 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch.XIX- 



where it has been chiefly cultivated for seed, upon their first being broken 

 up, the produce has been immense, affording from five to six quarters per 

 acre ; ahhough upon similar soils, which Lave been long in cultivation, 

 half that quantity of seed is esteemed a very fair crop. The vigour of the 

 plant when grown for sheep will be found to vary in the like proportion. 

 Few plants are less liable to failure in consequence of the variations of 

 weather, or the attacks of the insect tribe, than this ; if therefore the land 

 be in good heart, and the cultivation be attended to, the grower will be 

 rarely disappointed : but if it be poor, the produce is of little value, being 

 small in quantity, and very inferior as an article of food. A luxuriant 

 plant of rape, with a thick stem, is what the sheep are most partial to, 

 and upon which they fatten with the greatest rapidity. Perhaps the most 

 nutriment is contained in the abundant pith with which the stalk abounds, 

 for the sheep evidently prefer this to the leaves. When grown upon weak 

 land, or when allowed to stand too thickly upon the ground, and thereby 

 deprived of its full proportion of nutriment, and of a free circulation of 

 air, the stem is small, composed of hard woody fibres, and the leaves 

 become red or mildewed. In this state it is neither relished by sheep, nor 

 are they benefited by consuming it. 



Perhaps the most usual manner of cultivating rape is to sow it broadcast 

 upon a fallow, at the rate of three quarts of seed per acre, early in the month 

 of June, and then leave it to its fate ; neither bestowing the pains of hoeing 

 nor hand-weeding upon it. This is however giving place to abetter mode, 

 and we have seen several intelligent farmers, in various parts of the king- 

 dom, adopt the use of the drill and horse-hoe ; setting the rows at various 

 distances, from twelve to twenty-seven inches apart, and tliinning out the 

 plants from six to twelve inches asunder in the rows. By this means the 

 crop acquires great vigour, and the purpose of the fallow is made effectual, by 

 the destruction of weeds. But however valuable this jjlant may be found as 

 food for sheep in the months of August, September, and October, it must be 

 admitted that the quantity of food per acre, in proportion to that which is 

 afforded by turnips, cannot be rated at above two-thirds even in tiiose 

 months ; and that it must be consumed immediately upon acquiring its full 

 state of vigour, as decay of leaf will commence soon after, and vvhen sown 

 at that early period, it would be cut off by the winter frosts. It is indeed 

 frequently sown in August, as spring food for ewes and lambs ; but its pro- 

 duce is then very light, the plants being at that ])eriod disposed to run into 

 flower, rather than to put out any strong stem or leaf. In this latter view 

 it is certainly inferior to some of the open broccolis; especially in the opinion 

 of Mr. Howard, of Melbourne near York, to that species of broccoli known 

 by the gardeners under the name of Jerusalem Kale. He has cultivated this 

 plant upon a small scale for sheep, and forms a very high opinion of its 

 value in April and May. 



It may not be improper to remark, that although 7-ape and cole, are 

 often used synonymously, they are two very distinct plants ; and that 

 allliough equal in value fo?- the productioji of seed, the former ought only to 

 be cultivated as food for sheep : its habit being in the first instance to form 

 a strong upright stem ; whilst the latter spreads into leaf during the 

 autumn, and only shoots into stem during the following spring, coming into 

 flower even whilst the stem is forming.* We shall however return to the 

 subject in a future article, on seeds for the production of soil. 



* Strickland's View of the East-Riding of Yorkshire, xi. 140 ; Rep. of Huntingdonsh., 

 p. 136 ; and of Cambridgesh., p, 144. 



