MISCELLANEOUS CHOPS. 635 



RAPE. 



Rape (Brassica napus) is a cruciferous plant with small yellow flowers, 

 belonging to the same natural order as the cabbage and turnip. In the early 

 stages of growth it closely resembles the Swede turnip, but usually attains a 

 greater height than the turnip, and the root is not bulbous. 



It is best adapted to temperate climatic conditions. In the New England 

 and other cool districts it will grow best during the summer months; but in 

 the coastal districts, and in many of the wheat districts on the Western 

 Slopes it doe9 better as an autumn-sown crop. It is very rapid in 

 its growth, and in favourable seasons is ready for feeding in from twelve 

 to fifteen weeks. The growth by May is very luxuriant and fleshy, and may 

 be eaten down by sheep or pigs when it reaches inches in height. The 

 advantage of feeding the rape crop down this month (.-May) is that a vigor- 

 ous second crop follows. This naturally depends to some extent on the 

 elas^ of soil and the abundance of moisture, and in the autumn we usually 

 have favourable conditions. Sheep, when eating the first crop, are liable to 

 eat it off too close. This can be avoided by turning them off when they 

 remove the first lot of leaves. They generally eat those first, and return to 

 more closely remove the lower tendrils, leaves, and stems. Horses and cattle 

 will eat rape, but in doing so they injure the plant and retard the second 

 growth. In every case very hungry animals, especially cattle and sheep, 

 eat it greedily, and are liable to sudden attacks of hoven or bloating. It 

 is advisable to break them into feeding it gradually, and after a week's 

 attention allow them free use of the paddock. It is a good practice to feed 

 all animals half on grass and the balance on rape. Hoven is more prevalent 

 during wet weather or when heavy dews fall. Whilst on rape, cattle and 

 sheep do best when given free access to rock salt. An average crop should 

 feed ten to fifteen sheep to the acre, and fatten them for market in sixty days. 

 The pigs proved to be more thrifty and in healthier condition when fed with 

 rape than when fed with grain alone. Considerable saving in labour is 

 effected in grazing pigs on rape. Moreover, the ground is enriched from the 

 excreta of both sheep and pigs. Experience has shown poultry-farmers the 

 need for a green feed of a heterogeneous character as a substitute for more 

 expensive nitrogenous foods, such as bran and pollard, and rape is most 

 valuable for the purpose, as repeated trials have fully demonstrated. 

 Milking cattle should not be grazed on rape. 



As a change crop in the wheat belt, and as an adjunct to fattening sheep 

 in conjunction with wheat-growing, practical experience at Bathurst Experi- 

 ment Farm has proved it to be a nutritious fodder for sheep. In moist 

 - isons it may err in being over-succulent and thus induce scouring. 

 Trouble in that direction may be minimised by feeding dry grass, chaff, &c., 

 in conjunction with it. In the laboratory, analyses have shown that rape 

 contains a fairly large proportion of nitrogenous substances. 



As a sheep food it is extremely, valuable, especially for ewes suckling 

 lambs and for the topping up of broken-mouthed sheep. When the ordinary 

 pastures are dry, the corrective effect of the rape is exceptionally desirable. 

 In districts with temperate winters, ten to twelve sheep may be depastured 

 per acre throughout the winter. 



It also is a good cattle food, excepting for its liability to cause bloat 

 and to taint the milk of dairy cows. 



For pigs it is very desirable, as they are not liable to hoven. When fed 

 in conjunction with grain for topping off, excellent results are obtained. 



In all classes of poultry-farming it is valuable, and a run upon rape is 

 very beneficial. 



