RAPE-CAKE. 



RAT. 



markably thin. It has been cultivated for a 

 great length of years on the continent, and for 

 about 30 years in England, but only by one 

 person, as far as Mr. Dickson is aware. It is 

 propagated by seed, which, for the main crop, 

 m:iy be sown from the middle of July to the 

 end of August, or even later : these will supply 

 the table until April ; and, if wanted through- 

 out the year, a little may be sown in the latter 

 end of October, the plants from which will be 

 fit for use, if they succeed, during April and 

 May: the last crop to be inserted from the 

 middle of January to the middle of February, 

 which will come in at the end of May and dur- 

 ing June. On a north border, and if the soil 

 is sandy and moist, it is possible to have them 

 sweet and tender during the whole summer, to 

 effect which the seed must be sown at ihe close 

 of March and May. They require the same 

 modes of cultivation and treatment as turnips. 

 In dry weather the beds must be watered regu- 

 larly, until the plants have got three or four 

 leaves. One great advantage attending the 

 cultivation of this vegetable is, that it requires 

 no manure. Any soil that is poor and light, 

 especially if sandy, is suitable to it. In rich 

 manured earth it grows much larger, but not 

 so sweet and good. For the growth of seeds, 

 Mr. Dickson recommends, in February or 

 March, some of the finest roots to be trans- 

 planted to 2 feet asunder; but it would, per- 

 haps, be a better practice to leave them where 

 grown. 



RAPE-CAKE. The refuse or marc remain- 

 ing after the oil has been expressed from the 

 rape or cole-seed. (See LINSEED CAKE.) The 

 use of rape-cake as a manure is pretty ex- 

 tensive in some parts of England, and its effects 

 are so immediate and powerful, that its ex- 

 pense alone retards its more general employ- 

 ment. It contains a large quantity of mucilage, 

 some portion of albuminous matter, and a 

 small proportion of oil. It should be kept dry, 

 and used when recently made. It answers 

 admirably for turnips. When first recom- 

 mended as a fertilizer, it was used in the pro- 

 portion of half a ton per acre; but by pul- 

 verizing it, and drilling it in with the seed, 

 about half that quantity has been found suffi- 

 cient. Rape-cake produces, when ploughed in 

 with wheat, excellent crops. It has been found 

 exceedingly noxious to the wireworm, and 

 other field vermin, and when applied in com- 

 post, with 30 times its weight of farm-yard 

 dung, it forms a very excellent manure. 



Rape-cake, in common with all fertilizers of 

 an oily nature, is much more decided in its 

 effects in wet than in dry seasons. In York- 

 shire and Lincolnshire the quantity applied 

 is about 16 bushels per acre. It is more ser- 

 viceable on clays and other moist lands than 

 on dry soils ; its benefit extends to only on 

 crop, although there have been occasional in- 

 stances of its extending to two. It may be 

 either drilled with the seed or spread on the 

 land before it is ploughed. See LIXSEED, OIL- 

 CAKE, PALMA CHIUSTI, &c. 



The practical benefits which are capable of 

 being derived from -a correct knowledge of the 

 mode in which green manures operate, are 

 considerable. It should teach the cultivator to 



carefully bury in the soil every portion of either 

 animal or vegetable matter he can command ; 

 for every weed, every fragment of straw he 

 thus employs, will again, under judicious ma- 

 nagement, be returned to him in new forms of 

 beauty and usefulness. 



RASPBERRY (Rubiis icteus). This shrub, in 

 its wild state, is found growing in our moun- 

 tainous woods and thickets : flowering in May 

 and June. The root is creeping. The stems 

 are biennial, erect, 3 or 4 feet high, branched, 

 round, pale or purplish, more or less be- 

 sprinkled with small, straight, slender prickles, 

 frequently rather resembling bristles than 

 prickles, and sometimes altogether absent. 

 Leaves primate, of five or three ovate, rather 

 angular, lateral leaflets, serrated or cut, and 

 angular, green, and nearly smooth above, very 

 downy beneath, and a larger terminal leaflet. 

 The footstalks are furrowed, downy, and prick- 

 ly, with narrow lateral stipules. The flowers 

 are small, white, or pinkish-white, pendulous, 

 in drooping terminal clusters. Fruit crimson, 

 >f numerous juicy grains, beset with the per- 

 manent styles, and highly fragrant, with a 

 very deliciously perfumed sweet and acid fla- 

 vour, more exquisite in the wild state, in gene- 

 ral, than when cultivated. 



The wood of the raspberry bush produces 

 fruit but one year, therefore that should be 

 carefully cut down below the surface of the 

 earth, and the young shoots should be shorten- 

 ed to about 2 feet high; and not more than three 

 or four shoots should be left to each root, as 

 these will produce a greater number of berries, 

 and larger fruit, than would be obtained if 

 twice that number of suckers were left. The 

 middle or end of October is the proper time for 

 this pruning. The fruit is produced from young 

 branches out of the last year's shoots or suck- 

 ers. The plants raised by layers are much 

 preferred to those taken from suckers; they 

 should also have plenty of room, for when 

 there is not space for the air and light to pass 

 between the rows, the fruit will be small, and 

 not ripen well. They require a fresh, strong 

 loam, deeply trenched and well manured in 

 the first instance, for in warm, light ground 

 they produce but little fruit. 



The following selection is recommended for 

 a small garden: Barnet, Cornish, Double- 

 bearing red Antwerp, Williams's preserving 

 yellow Antwerp. 



This fruit is employed for the dessert; it is 

 also in very general use for jams and tarts, 

 and is converted into wine and vinegar, which 

 is a refreshing beverage, when diluted with 

 water, in fevers. The young and fresh leaves 

 of the common raspberry are eagerly eaten by 

 kids. (See BRAMBLE.) 



RAT. The name of a large, destructive, 

 and very prolific species of the genus Mus, the 

 brown, or water-rat (Mus decumanus, Linn.), 

 introduced into the British islands from Asia, 

 not, as is commonly believed, from Norway. 

 It has spread over all the country, and multi- 

 plied at the expense of the old British species, 

 called the "black rat" (M. rattus, Linn.). 



Of all the four-footed animals (says the au- 

 thor of Brit. Husb.) included in the rank of 

 vermin, rats and mice are the most pernicious; 



943 



