474 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



them for this purpose. One farmer claims that he is less troubled 

 with scours in pigs on oat pasture than on alfalfa. (F. B. 331.) 



Rape Pasture. One of the valuable green crops for hogs is rape. 

 It can be sown in the fall after the summer crops are taken off the 

 land, and within seventy days is ready for the hogs to be turned 

 upon it. It is a winter growing crop, or one that can be used be- 

 tween the two summer crops. As a result of its use the land can be 

 kept in use and covered with green vegetation the year round. Sev- 

 eral experiment stations have demonstrated its value as a hog feed. 

 While rape when planted in the spring will make a summer growth 

 almost anywhere in the South, it is not advisable for the farmer to 

 use it as a summer pasture. Other pastures can be used during the 

 summer months, and the rape can be sown in the fall, after the sum- 

 mer crops are taken off the land, and be ready for pasturing by Janu- 

 ary. As a rule, lands lie idle throughout the winter months, thus 

 exposing them to the heavy washes, but if rape is used the land can 

 be made to produce a green crop the year round, and at the same time 

 afford the fattening or breeding hogs a good winter pasture. 



The experimental work in both Alabama and Wisconsin has 

 shown rape to be an excellent grazing crop to supplement corn. In 

 Alabama the area was grazed twice, as the rape grew up behind the 

 hogs after they had grazed it the first time, and as a result of both 

 grazings it was learned that 1 acre of the rape pasture was equivalent 

 to 61.9 bushels of corn (assuming that 580 pounds of corn will make 

 100 pounds gain) ; or, leaving out of consideration the expense of 

 making the crop, each bushel fed at the first grazing was worth 95.8 

 cents (hogs at 5 cents) and each bushel during the second grazing 

 realized $1.36. If it cost $8 to make an acre of rape, and this ex- 

 pense is charged against the gain, the corn during the first grazing 

 sold for 67.8 cents a bushel while that of the second grazing sold for 

 91.6 cents. In the Wisconsin test 1 acre of rape was found to be equal 

 in feeding value to 45 bushels of corn, or, estimating, as in the Ala- 

 bama test, the corn sold for 99.6 cents a bushel when the cost of 

 making the rape crop was not considered, and for 91.9 cents a bushel 

 when the cost is counted against the gain at the rate of $8 an acre. 

 These results were secured in winter, a time of year when the average 

 farmer is realizing no returns at all upon his land. Thus the farmer 

 is one crop ahead, equal to about 30 bushels of corn. 



Rape is not a legume ; it will not enrich the soil. Its chief value 

 lies in the fact that it can be grown in the winter time between the 

 main farm crops. It comes off in the spring in ample time for the 

 same area to be planted in any of the general farm crops. (F. B. 

 411.) Rape at the present time is the most favorably known of the 

 fleshy-leaved plants for swine pasture. (Ind. B. 82.) 



Chufas. The chufa plant is one that can be used for winter 

 grazing also, but it has two disadvantages. One of these is that it 

 must be planted in the spring and occupies the land throughout the 

 whole summer; the other is that while it occupies the ground for a 

 long time it is not a soil improver. Nevertheless many farmers make 

 excellent use of. it for pigs that they wish to finish for late spring kill- 



