GRASS AND HAY 151 



and it is not best to turn them into the rape when the leaves are wet. 

 There is no danger of bloating with swine. It is an excellent plan 

 to have the fields so arranged that the sheep and cattle have access 

 to an open pasture as well as to the rape. Animals should have free 

 access to salt at all times when being pastured on this crop. Rape 

 has a high feeding value. It makes an excellent feed for fattening 

 sheep and swine and for producing an abundant flow of milk in 

 milch cows. On account of the great danger of tainting the milk 

 many people do not usually feed it to the cows until after milking. 

 Rape can be used to good advantage as a part of the ration 

 for animals that are being fed in pens for market or for 

 the show ring. It is also a valuable food for young lambs 

 at weaning time. By beginning as early as practicable in the 

 spring and seeding at intervals of two or three weeks, a continuous 

 succession of rape can be produced throughout the period when the 

 permanent pastures are most likely to be short. Rape will endure 

 quite severe cold weather and thus will last a long time after the 

 ordinary pasture grasses succumb to the frost. By the use of this 

 crop stock can be gotten into good condition for the holiday markets 

 or for winter, and there need be no check in growth, fat, and milk 

 production through insufficient succulent food during the last sum- 

 mer and autumn months, as is too frequently the case. Under favor- 

 able conditions two or three cuttings may be made in a single season 

 from a field of rape grown as a primary crop. Not much attention has 

 been paid to growing rape for seed in this country, possibly because 

 of the fact that in most localities where this crop has oeen extensively 

 grown the winters are so severe as to destroy the plants. It seems, 

 however, that there are localities where rape can be profitably grown 

 for seed, and farmers might well devote more attention to this feature 

 of rape growing. Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisxfolia.) This per- 

 nicious weed of old fields and waysides has some value as a forage 

 plant ; it is sometimes cut for hay in Virginia. While stock do not 

 graze the plant, horses eat ragweed hay with great relish and appar- 

 ently do well on it. River Club-rush (Scirpus fluviatilis). A stout, 

 erect perennial sedge, common on the borders of lakes and large 

 streams from New England west to the Dakotas and Iowa, and, be- 

 cause of its abundance, is valuable for early feed. Round-headed 

 Bush Clover (Lespedeza capitata). A bush clover common in dry 

 and sandy soil from New England to Florida and westward to the 

 Prairies; it is a good pasture plant. Rattlers (Crotalaria lupulina). 

 An annual legume with short, bladder pods in which the seeds 

 rattle freely when ripe. It grows in New Mexico and Arizona. Al- 

 though it is said to nave some value as forage, it should be looked 

 upon with suspicion because of its close relationship to the Rattle- 

 pod pea, one of the worst of the poisonous loco weeds of the humid 

 prairies. Round-leaf Saltbush (Atriplex nummularia). A peren- 

 nial shrub, 6 to 10 feet high; the leaves and stems are covered with 

 whitish down, and the broad, fleshy leaves are produced in great 

 abundance. In habit of growth and appearance it resemble? the 

 native shad scale of the Rocky Mountain region. It is only adapted 



