^38 FORAGE CROPS. 



influence which it exerts upon the soil. But it is 

 grown even more frequently as a catch crop to pro- 

 vide pasture for sheep, and more especially in sea- 

 sons when turnips have failed. In the climate of 

 England it is ready for being pastured or plowed 

 under at eight weeks from the date of sowing, when 

 it is not sown sooner than the last half of July nor 

 later than the end of August. In the Mississippi 

 basin, and indeed in the major portion of the United 

 States, it should grow even more quickly, because of 

 the higher mean summer temperature. Some day, 

 therefore, there ought to be an extensive place for 

 this plant in our system of agriculture. There is 

 ample time to grow it after many crops have been 

 harvested. On fallow lands and especially on those 

 of the prairie there should be a place for white mus- 

 tard. When grown on these it could be wholly 

 grazed off by sheep. If too abundant to admit of 

 its being all eaten, after the depasturing the residue 

 could be plowed under with great advantage to the 

 succeeding crop or crops. 



White mustard will probably grow in any of 

 the tillable portions of Canada or the United States 

 where the land is supplied with a sufficiency of mois- 

 ture, whether obtained from a natural or an artificial 

 source. On the valley soils amid the Rocky moun- 

 tains it should produce large yields of seed, because 

 of their richness in phosphoric acid. The high price 

 of the seed may interfere with the extensive growth 

 of this plant at the present time, but it would be 

 easy indeed for the farmer to grow his own seed. 

 The author grew it to some extent at the Ontario 

 government experiment farm, at Guelph, where it 

 yielded seed profusely. Nor is there any real diffi- 



