152 



CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



square yards, equal to forty-three thousand five hundred and 

 sixtv square feet consequently ten thousand eight hundred 

 and ninety Savoy cabbages may be raised on an acre of ground 

 two feet apart each way. 



VIII. RAPE. 



THE Brassica Napits, cole or rape, is a native of Great Bri- 

 tain; a biennial plant of the turnip kind, with a caulescent or 

 woody fusiform root, unfit to be eaten by animals. Its leaves 

 are smooth. When cultivated it produces abundance of leaves 

 and seeds. The leaves are used for food; and from the seeds, 

 an oil of very superior quality, and extensively used in the 

 arts, is expressed.* A bushel of the seed will generally give 

 a gallon of oil; and the cake from which the oil is expressed 

 affords a rich food for cattle, and when powdered or pulverized 

 is extensively used in France, the Netherlands, and England 

 as a manure for drilled turnips. 



This plant thrives on almost any soil, provided it is made 

 sufficiently rich; but those best suited for it, and on which it 

 flourishes best, are the deep, rich, dry and kindly soils. It is 

 a hardy plant. It requires less of culture and manure than the 

 turnip, and consequently can be produced under circumstances 

 in which the turnip cannot be profitably cultivated. The man- 

 ner of cultivating the rape is similar to the manner of cultivat- 

 ing the turnip; but it admits of variations suited to the soil, 

 the period of sowing, and other circumstances. 



The preparation of the land and its formation into drills, 

 the manuring and sowing of the seed, is the same as is de- 

 scribed for the turnip culture, but with narrower intervals be- 

 tween the rows; the least distance that will admit a cultivator, 

 will answer say two feet. The quantity of seed depends 

 upon the manner of sowing it. If it is sown broadcast, as is 

 frequently the case, four quarts at least will be required if 

 by the drill process, one half that quantity will be found to 

 answer. Sow in June or July, when intended for green food 



* One peculiar property in the oil of this plant is, that it does not produce 

 spontaneous combustion. Hence, in England and France, it is used in nearly all 

 machinery and manufactures. It is superior to most oils also in other respects. 

 The imports of this oil into this country varies from thirty to fifty thousand 

 dollars per annum. The cultivation of rape and the manufacture of the oil in 

 this country, would not only retain this amount of money among our farmers, 

 but no doubt its general use in manufactories would save many of them from 

 the flames said to be kindled by the incendiary. 



