l6o FORAGE CROPS. 



saddle horse will be found serviceable, owing to the 

 difficulty of walking through a heavy crop of rape 

 on foot. 



When animals that have never been pastured 

 upon rape are first turned in upon it, they may not 

 take kindly to it, not having acquired a taste for the 

 rape, but if confined to it they will soon eat it raven- 

 ously. So fond do they become of it that ere long 

 when feeding upon a mixed pasture in which rape is 

 one of the factors, they will first search out the rape 

 and consume it in preference to almost all other kinds 

 of plants. And when once they have acquired a 

 taste for rape they never tire of it. 



If live stock are pasturing on rape it is generally 

 considered beneficial to the animals to give them 

 access also to a grass pasture. And if the grass in 

 the latter has lost some of its succulence through age, 

 the benefit will be increased. The grass lessens the 

 tendency to "scours" in the animals, that is to say, 

 it lessens the tendency to a too lax condition of the 

 digestion. Grain, as oats, for instance, fed once 

 a day at the rate of, say, half a pound per head for 

 each animal, will have a similar effect upon the diges- 

 tion. But it is not usually considered necessary to 

 feed grain to live stock that are being pastured on 

 rape, for the sole object of hastening the fattening 

 process, as it is doubtful if any kind of grain can 

 be added to rape pasture in a mature stage of growth 

 that will cause the sheep to lay on fat much more 

 quickly than if they are pastured on rape alone. 

 Cattle and sheep should always have free access to 

 salt when pasturing upon rape, and when nec- 

 essary they should also be supplied daily with 

 water. But when sheep are pasturing upon sue- 



