350 THE RAPE CROP. 



state as in the turnip or kohl-rabi ; in these, however, the 

 abnormal development is in the stem and leaves of the 

 plant, which, when growing in a congenial soil, exhibit a 

 wide difference from the parent stock met with in waste 

 places in different parts of the country. 



These plants offer great facilities for the cultivation of 

 fodder and fallow crops on two descriptions of soils, where 

 turnips are generally less successfully grown than on 

 others, namely, those of a peaty and those of a strong argil- 

 laceous character. On the one the turnip plants run too 

 much to top, and rarely carry the bulbs to a satisfactory 

 size ; and on the other, the growth of top as well as bulb is 

 generally of a stunted character. Both of these plants, how- 

 ever, will thrive on soils rich in vegetable matter, and, 

 indeed, are grown more largely than turnips on the soils 

 of this character in the fen-lands of the eastern midland 

 counties, and both may be seen in cultivation also on strong 

 clay soils in Essex and Hertfordshire, and other districts 

 of an argillaceous character. 



Although both these plants will grow in these dif- 

 ferent descriptions of soils, they have their preferences, 

 which should not be overlooked in determining upon 

 their cultivation in any particular place; the "winter 

 rape" (J3. napus) being the best suited of the two for the 

 humous soils, while the " summer rape" (B. campestris) 

 is the best adapted for growing in the stronger clay class of 

 soils. In such soils, where the turnip meets with in- 

 fluences which check and deteriorate its development, 

 these plants find conditions generally favourable to their 

 growth ; the large proportion of rich organic matter of the 

 fen-lands furnish abundant materials for the rapid develop- 

 ment of the succulent herbaceous rape, while the strong, 

 tough, fibrous, roots of the colza, are able to penetrate 

 and ramify through the compact masses of the argillaceous 

 soil, and abstract from it those materials necessary to 



