THE MUSTARD CROP. 



WE have in this section of our "Farm Crops" another 

 member of the order Cruciferse, but belonging to a differ- 

 ent though closely-allied genus, SINAPIS, of which it is the 

 principal member, and from which it takes its name. 

 This is the MUSTARD, of which there are several species 

 known to botanists, many of them indigenous to this 

 country, in the shape of well-known weeds. Two species, 

 however, are met with in cultivation the White Mustard 

 (Sinapis alba), which is grown pretty extensively, and 

 usually as a forage or fallow crop; and the common Black 

 or Brown Mustard (8. nigra), which is cultivated for its 

 seeds. They are both annuals, readily known by their 

 brilliant yellow flowers, and by the general well-marked 

 characteristics of cruciferous plants. The White Mustard 

 is distinguished by its stem and branches being covered 

 with rough hairs, which in the black mustard are smooth 

 and free from them ; the seed-pods of the latter are smaller 

 than those of the former; their shape is also somewhat 

 different, those of the black species being bluntly four- 

 cornered, with a short beak or end of the same shape, 

 while those of the white species terminate in a broad two- 

 edged or dagger-shaped beak. 



Mustard has long been known and cultivated in this 

 country for the sake of its seeds, but its introduction into 

 our improved system of farming as a fallow and forage 

 plant is of comparatively recent date. Its rapid growth, 

 and the large amount of its produce per acre, make it a 

 very valuable addition to our intermediate crops, and 



