150 FORAGE CROPS. 



State in the Union in which the rape plant cannot 

 be turned to good account in furnishing forage, pro- 

 viding it is grown at that season of the year when 

 the temperature is best adapted to its growth. Moist 

 and moderately cool climates are the most favorable 

 to the growth of rape, hence it does particularly 

 well in those portions of New England where the 

 soil is sufficiently rich to grow it, and also on the 

 final slope of the Pacific coast, in Oregon, Washing- 

 ton and British Columbia. All the arable portions 

 of Canada will grow rape in good form, but in none 

 of the provinces does it succeed better than in 

 Ontario. 



The seed is all imported at present from Great 

 Britain and other European countries. It cannot 

 be grown with much success in the northern and 

 middle states, and in the provinces of Canada, east 

 of the Rocky mountains, owing to the coldness of 

 the winters. In some of the states that lie pretty 

 well to the southward and that are also favored with 

 a goodly supply of moisture, it may be demonstrated 

 that rape seed may be grown with success. And 

 on the Pacific slopes, more especially those which 

 border on Puget Sound, the indications all point 

 to singular adaptability for the production of the 

 seed of this plant ( Fig. 21). 



Place in the Rotation. — When rape is sown in 

 drills and properly cultivated it becomes a cleaning 

 crop which may be made as effective as the best 

 managed bare fallow in cleaning the soil. If thus 

 grown it may be given any place in the rotation, but 

 on account of the beneficent influence on the crops 

 that follow, it may be well to sow it on land that 

 needs to be freed from superabundant weeds. When 



