156 FORAGE CROPS. 



tion, for the grain or to produce soiling food. When 

 thus sown, from one to two pounds of seed per acre 

 will suffice. There is not so much hazard in sowing 

 the lesser quantity named, since in a very dry season 

 no return may be realized. The largest return in 

 pasture is likely to be obtained from sowing the rape 

 seed along with barley, and the smallest from sow- 

 ing it with oats, because of the less dense shade fur- 

 nished by the former, and the more dense shade 

 furnished by the latter. With winter wheat or win- 

 ter rye, the seed may be sown in spring, as soon as 

 the ground is dry enough to sustain a span of horses 

 without taking injury from their treading upon it. 

 It should then be covered with the harrow. With 

 the other crops named it may be mixed with the 

 grain at short intervals while it is being sown. This 

 method of sowing the rape seed is best suited to the 

 loam soils of the prairie. On the average soils of 

 the northeastern states and of the eastern half of 

 the Dominion of Canada, it would bury the rape 

 seed too deeply. 



A second and probably a better method of sow- 

 ing the rape seed with these crops would be to put 

 it into the seed box of the grass-seed-sowing attach- 

 ment of a grain drill, and to have it fall in front of 

 the tubes which sow the grain. On many soils this 

 would furnish a sufficient covering for the seed, but 

 not on all. The same amount of covering would 

 also be secured by sowing the seed by hand, or with 

 a hand sower before the drilling in of the grain. 

 Where more covering is desired the harrow will 

 furnish it. 



When the rape seed is sown thus early, there is 

 some danger in moist seasons, and especially with a 



