CRUCIFEILE. LXXXIII. BRASSICA. 



245 



the plant they cultivate is Brassica Campestris oleifera, or the 

 Brassica Napus oleifera, which can easily be ascertained by the 

 roughness or smoothness of the leaves. Experiments made by 

 Gaujac shew the produce of the first, compared to that of tlie 

 second, to be 955 to 700, (Hort. trans. 5. p. 23.) " For its 

 leaves, as food for sheep, and its seeds for the oil manufacturers, 

 Rape, or Coleseed, has been cultivated from time immemorial. 

 It may be grown by sowing broad-cast, or in rows, like the com- 

 mon turnip, or transplanted like the Swedish turnip. The culture 

 of Rape for seed has been much objected to by some, on account 

 of the great degree of exhaustion of the land that it is supposed 

 to produce. But where it is grown on a suitable soil and pre- 

 paration, with proper attention in the after-culture, and the 

 straw and offal, instead of being burnt, as is the common prac- 

 tice, converted to the purpose of feeding or littering cattle, it 

 may in many instances be as proper and advantageous a crop as 

 can be employed by the farmer. The soils best suited for the 

 culture of Rape are the deep, rich, dry and kindly soils. Young 

 says that on open fen and peat soils, and bogs, it thrives well, 

 and especially on pared and burned land, which is the best pre- 

 paration for it ; but it may be grown with success on fenny, 

 marshy, and other coarse waste lands, that have been long under 

 grass, after being broken, and reduced into a proper state of pre- 

 paration. As a first crop, on such description of land, it is often 

 the best that can be employed. The author of the New Farmer's 

 Calendar thinks that this plant is not perhaps worth attention on 

 any but rich and deep soils ; for instance, those luxuriant slips 

 that are found by the sea-side, fens, or newly broken up grounds, 

 where vast crops of it may be raised." The land on which the 

 Rape is to be sown needs nothing more than a deep ploughing, 

 and sufficient harrowing to bring the surface to a fine mould, in 

 February or March, immediately before sowing, or in July, or 

 after the hay-crop if the sowing is deferred to that season. 

 When sown on old tillage-land, the method of preparation is the 

 same as that which is usually given for the common turnip. 

 Wheat is considered the best crop to follow Rape : by its being 

 taken off early there is sufficient time allowed for getting the 

 land in order for sowing wheat. The time of sowing Rape is the 

 same as that for the turnip, and the manner, either broad-cast 

 or in rows. Where the object is the keep of sheep in autumn 

 or winter, by eating it down, the broad-cast method, and thick 

 sowing, is evidently the best, and is that generally resorted to in 

 Lincolnshire and the fenny districts. The quantity of seed, 

 when sown thick, may be a peck an acre ; but when drilled, or 

 sown thin, two or three pounds will suffice. Vacancies may 

 always be filled up by transplanting. The season for trans- 

 planting is soon after harvest. One deep ploughing is sufficient, 

 .and a sufficient degree of harrowing : the plants are then dib- 

 bled in rows a foot apart, and the plants six inches asunder. 

 These will not be so strong as those sown in June or July, 

 where they are to run to seed. The seed-beds where the plants 

 are to be obtained for transplanting, should be sown in June or 

 July. The after-culture is the same as that for the turnip, which 

 consists in hoeing and thinning. In poor soils they may be left 

 at 6 or 8 inches apart, but in rich soil 12 or 15 inches. Whon 

 Rape is grown purposely for feeding sheep, no hoeing nor thinning 

 js necessary. The seeds begin to ripen about the last week of 

 June, and must then be protected from birds. In harvesting 

 Rape great care is necessary not to lose the seed by shaking, or 

 by exposing it to high winds or rain. It is reaped with the hook, 

 and the principal point is to make good use of fine weather, for 

 it must be threshed as fast as reaped, or at least without being 

 stacked like other crops. The use of Rape-seed for crushing for 

 oil is well known : it is also employed as food for tame birds, and 

 sometimes it is sown by gardeners in the same way as mustard 

 or cress, for early salading. Rape-cake, and Rape-dust, the first 



adhering masses of seed-husks after the oil has been expressed, 

 and the second loose dry husks, are used for top-dressings for 

 crops of different sorts, but it has little or no effect if rain does 

 not immediately follow after it has been scattered on the ground. 

 The haulm is used as hay, and the tops are eaten with avidity 

 nearly equal to cut straw. The green leaves, as food for sheep, 

 are scarcely surpassed by any other vegetable, in so far as respects 

 its nutritious properties ; but in quantity it is inferior to both 

 turnips and cabbages. The sheep are folded upon Rape in the 

 same manner as practised with turnips, from November to April. 

 Rape is cultivated in gardens as a small salad herb, to be 

 gathered young in the seed-leaves, and used as cresses and mus- 

 tard. Like these it has a warm flavour, and is recommended 

 as a stomachic. This plant is very generally cultivated in the 

 eastern parts of France. 



" Culture for small salading. Sow at the same time with 

 cresses Lepidium Sativum mustard, Sinapis dlba, in spring and 

 winter, or at any season when small salading is required. Sow 

 in drills, and follow the culture directed for White Mustard." 



* B. ESCULE'NTA (D. C. 1. c.) root fusiform, thickened under 

 the neck. Lob. icon. 200. f. 1. Bauh. hist. 2. p. 842. icon. 

 Mor. oxon. 2. p. 214. sect. 3. t. 2. f. 1. This plant is usually 

 confused with the Swedish turnip and the common turnip. 



Var.a,alba; (B.C. syst. 2. p. 593. )root white, esculent. N&pus 

 diilcis. Blackw. herb. t. 410. This is the most common variety. 



Var. j3,Jlava ; (D. C. 1. c.) root yellow, esculent. 



Far. y, nigricans; (D. C. 1. c.) root with a black skin, esculent. 



" The Naverv, Navel, ChouNavet,orFrenchturnip, Dickson ob- 

 serves, (Hort. trans, vol. I.) enriches all the foreign soups. Stewed 

 in gravy it forms a most excellent dish, and being white, and of 

 the shape of a carrot, when mixed alternately with those roofs 

 upon a dish, it is very ornamental. In France, as well as Ger- 

 many, few great dinners are served up without it in one shape 

 or other." " In using it there is no necessity to cut away the 

 outer skin, or rind, in which, indeed, the flavour chiefly resides ; 

 scraping it will be quite sufficient." Justice observes, (Brit, 

 gard. direct, p. 159.) that it is neither fit to be boiled alone, 

 nor raw, but that two or three of them, in seasoning, will give a 

 higher flavour than a dozen of any common turnips. 



" The great advantage attending the cultivation of this root is, 

 that it requires no manure whatever ; any soil that is poor and 

 light, especially if sandy, suits it, where it seldom exceeds the 

 size of one's thumb or middle finger ; in rich manured earth it 

 grows much larger, but it is not so sweet, or good in quality." 

 Justice and Dickson. Sowing broad-cast, in the way of Turnips, 

 is the way of cultivating the Navet. 



Rape or Coleseed. Fl. April, June. Clt. ? PI. 2 to 3 feet. 



5 B. PRJJ'COX, (Waldst. et Kit. ined. D. C. syst. 2. p. 593.) 

 leaves smooth, covered with greyish-glaucous bloom ; radical 

 and lower stem-leaves lyrate, upper stem-ones cordate-lanceo- 

 late, stem-clasping, crenated ; pods erect. Q. H. Culti- 

 vated throughout middle Europe, in fields in the mountains. 

 Nanette d'ete (Fr.) Kohl Reps, Summer Reps (Germ.). Flow- 

 ers sulphur-coloured. The summer Navette is less cultivated 

 than the Coleseed, being less prolific, the seeds being much smaller. 

 It is chiefly cultivated on hilly ground, where the winter Navel le 

 will not grow. Being an annual it is sown in the spring and 

 reaped in the autumn. 



Early Coleseed. Fl. Aug. Clt.? PI. 2 feet. 



6 B. CRE'TICA (Lam. diet. 1. p. 747.) stem shrubby at the 

 base ; leaves ovate-roundish, crenated, stalked, smooth. Tj . F. 

 Native of Crete, as well as in all the islands of the Archipelago, 

 in the fissures of rocks. Smith, fl. grsec. t. 645. Flowers race- 

 mose. Similar to B. oleracea. Stem a foot high, dividing into 

 2 or 3 short thick branches at the top. 



Cretan Cabbage. Fl. April, May. Shrub 2 ft. 



