220 



CuUivaiion of Rape. 



OL. 



III. 



action of the wings, lie secured the other end 

 to liis own body, lie had taken his son Jon- 

 athan with him toas.-:ist in tiie operation, and 

 to witness his triumphant ascension. Tlie 

 cords wliich confined the wings of the birds 

 being cut consecutively, lliey rose, and asthi'y 

 one by one stretched tiie ropes tight whicli 

 bound them to the curious anchor below, the 

 anchor was at last fairly weighed, and began 

 to move upward. Then it all at once flashed 

 upon the old gentleman's mind, that al- 

 though they might combine to take him up, 

 they miglit not to let him down. Instantly 

 in a voice of terror he shouted to his son, — 

 "^Jonathan ! my son Jonathan ! exert thyself, 

 or thy father is lost !" The dutiful son laid 

 hold of him, and with the addition of his 

 weight brought him back to the earth. The 

 birds on being liberated were seen making off i 

 from the place, apparently as much frightened I 

 at the philosophical experiment as the exper-j 

 imentor himself The pathetic exclamation 

 of the old man was long repeated as a by- word 

 amongst his neighbors, and I have occasion \ 

 to make use of it at times to the present day. I 

 When I see young men with good farms, leav- j 

 ing the honest and honorable avocations of 

 their fathers to take an experimental flight 

 under the wings of trade and commerce in 

 the city; I cannot help thinking that their 

 friends may hear before long the piteous lan- 

 guage, "Exert yourselves my dear friends to 

 raise me a little money, or I am lost !" Wiien 

 I see any one tie himself with ropes to the 

 turkey buzzards of politics, in hopes of a flight 

 into a good fat olBce, — I am tempted to cry 

 to every one interested in his welfare, "Jon- 

 athan! Jonathan! exert thyself, or thy friend 

 is lost, now and forever !" Should I follow my 

 reflections as they have arisen respecting the 

 various manias of the day, I might perhaps 

 touch someof my friends in a very sore place. 

 So I shall conclude, just advising' them to stick 

 to reasonable rural experiments, to avoid all 

 ppeculation and every variety of turhey buz- 

 zard flights. N. E. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Cultivation of Rape. 



In a note appended to an interesting and 

 valuable article on spontaneous combustion, 

 furnished for your last number by Dr. James 

 Mease, I found the following remark : "Am- 

 ple experience has taught European manufic 

 turers that no oil should be used for greasing 

 wool but that of rape seed." See Cab. p. 177. 

 My attention was arrested, and particularly 

 as I had previously understood that the oil 

 extracted from rape seed was used in the arts 

 in this country and was in demand. It oc- 

 curred to me that it might answer well in this 

 country, and that some of our fanners by de 



voting a little time and attention to its culti- 

 vation, would not only benc.fil themselves, but 

 render an essential service toothers — that if 

 the oil was used in the arts, and merited the 

 higii commendation given it in the above ex- 

 tract — someof our ingenious and persevering' 

 countrymen, would soon produce the oil, pro- 

 vided our farmers would furnish the seed. 



Respecting the cultivation of many plants 

 I can speak from experience — of oil plants 

 my experience is limited ; of this one in par- 

 ticular I know nothing, except by inquiry 

 and reference to English works; and I must 

 confess that on examining the subject, I waa 

 surprised that its cultivation had not been ex- 

 tensively introduced, and that years since, in 

 this country.* 



By reference to Loudon's Encyclopedia, I 

 find that for its leaves as food for sheep, 

 and its seed for the oil-manufacture, rape, 

 or coleseed, as it is now sometimes called, has 

 been cultivated from time immemorial. It is 

 a biennial plant of the turnep kind, but with a 

 caulescentf or woody fusiform root,J scarcely 

 fit to be eaten, — flowers in May, and ripens 

 its seeds in July. It may be sown broad-cast 

 or in rows, like the common turnep, and may 

 be transplanted to advantage. An idea has 

 very extensively prevailed that the cultivation 

 of rape impoverishes the soil. This opinion 

 has proved to be erroneous. According to 

 Arthur Young, it thrives greatly on fen and 

 peat soils and bogs, and black peaty low 

 grounds, and especially on pared and burnt 

 land, which is best suited to it. Lovdon says 

 that where the soil and preparation are suit- 

 able, tiie afler culture properly attended lo, 

 and the straw and ofFal, instead of being burnt, 

 as is the common practice, converted to the 



* The cultivation of rape occupier! the attention of 

 farmers in I'rnnsylvania and New Jersey a few years 

 since. VVi' K.'arn from tlie Farmers' Magaziae, that it 

 yielileil a gallon of oil to a bushel of the soe;l, which 

 oil sold for one dollar per gallon; and fiirihcr. that llu 

 cake after expressing the oil, is rich food for cattle, in 

 addition to its quality as a manure, when powdore<l. 

 From the oil and potash, the savon rert, or green soap, 

 IS made, which, for scouring wool, is preferred in llu 

 manufactories of France to all other soaps. 



John Hare Powell, Esq., in a communication to 

 the Pennsylvania .\gricultural Society in lP-i7, speak- 

 ing of its introduction in this county in 1824 by .Mr. 

 Miller and Mr. Phillips, says — the usual and nmst 

 successful mode, is to sow ftom two to three quarts of 

 seed broadcast, in June or July, [he does not state tlie 

 quantity of ground] when intended for green food, but 

 in August or September, when destined to prod-aco 

 seeds in (he next year. Sheep and neat cattle are <-.v- 

 travagantly fond of it— birt of ad plants pL>rhaps it is 

 the most llkuly to cause them to beW<i;rn. lathe value 

 of the oil for various maniiflicluring purposes, and the 

 excellence of the cake, after it has been expressed, for , 

 cattle food niul th-? manure of drill crops, no question ' 

 can be entirlaiiifd. Ft a ppearstlutt this excellent plant 

 and mniiL'le wiiit/.d, were as early as tlie ytar I',--. , 

 liioughf into tlii^ view of our farmers by the old .\;;i i- 

 oullnral Hociety." — I'p. 



t!laviii;;a stem different from that which produces 

 1 lie flower. 



1 f-h pjd like a spindle. 



