FORAGE CROPS 



145 



Utilized to great advantage. The United States Department of 

 Agriculture tells us that it can be grown anywhere within the 

 United States. 



C. — Miscellaneous Forage Crops 



RAPE 



This plant has been grown and fed to sheep very commonly 

 in Canada. On a good-sized plot it made a very heavy growth 

 here in 1896. We found, however, that it was seeded too 

 thickly. Where the plants were given more room, as at the 

 outer edges of the plot, they grew much more luxuriantly. Dur- 

 ing the past season a plot sown in June and not cut until Sep- 

 tember gave a yield at the rate of nearly 50 tons to the acre. 

 It is advisable of course to feed it before the stem gets too 

 woody. The rape can be used as a catch crop and sown any 

 time up until late summer. If cut early it sprouts up and pro- 

 duces a second and sometimes a third cutting. The plant 

 belongs to the cabbage and kale tribe, and therefore can with- 

 stand a light frost, which makes it useful at the latter end of the 

 season as a forage crop. However, it runs out the land quickly, 

 and therefore must be considered as a ravenous feeder. The 

 variety commonly grown is the Dwarf Essex. It was, however, 

 the Dwarf Victoria that gave the heavy yield this past season. 



KALE 



This belongs to the same family of plants as the cabbage, 

 turnips, rape, etc. Like them it is a plant adapted for feeding 

 purposes and withstands a low degree of temperature. The 

 part sought for is the leaves, which are very numerous, usually 

 curly and thick. This plant is used for greens as well as for 

 stock. Like rape it produces a large crop and is a heavy 

 feeder. The variety grown at the Station w^as the Thousand- 

 headed kale, which was sown in the spring and cut in August, 

 yielding at the rate of 47,432 pounds per acre. When grown in 

 the garden, it is started in seed beds or trays and transplanted 

 the same as cabbage or cauliflower. 



