RAPE AND CABBAGE. 1 59 



ment of the author the first system will furnish con- 

 siderably more food than the second. 



Rape may be pastured off with horses, cattle, 

 sheep, swine and fowls. Horses and cattle waste 

 more through treading than the other classes of live 

 stock named. Cows in milk should not usually be 

 allowed to pasture on rape lest a taint be given to the 

 milk, but it may be cut and fed to them after each 

 period of milking. Neither cattle nor sheep should 

 be turned in upon rape when hungry, lest they eat 

 too much of it and so induce bloating, which, in a 

 very short time, may prove fatal. And when the 

 rape is wet from rain or dew, the tendency in the 

 rape to produce bloating is increased. And in cli- 

 mates where moisture abounds, the danger from 

 bloat is greater than when moisture is not plentiful. 

 The author has observed that in the country drained 

 by the Mississippi and its tributaries, the danger 

 from bloating in animals pasturing on rape is less 

 than from pasturing them on the same in New Eng- 

 land, eastern Canada and the further Pacific slope 

 north of California. 



Cattle and sheep may be accustomed to rape by 

 turning them into a field of the same after they have 

 eaten freely of some other food and then leaving 

 them in the rape pasture. But the danger will be 

 still further decreased by allowing them to remain 

 on the rape only for a short time the first day, and 

 by gradually increasing the time during each suc- 

 ceeding day. In less time than a week they may be 

 allowed to remain on the rape, having access at will 

 at the same time to an adjoining grass pasture, for 

 reasons given further on. In thus accustoming a 

 large flock of sheep to a rape pasture, the aid of a 



