is of valuable assistance in fattening lambs for the fall or 

 early winter market. It supplies a vast anlount of food of 

 which the lambs are very fond, and, as it withstands drought 

 and early frost better than most succulent fodders, it is a 

 crop that may be relied upon with at least common certainty. 

 The first trials reported with rape for fattening lambs were 

 made in England about 1845. T en wethers fed on rape alone 

 from August loth to September 2ist made an average in- 

 crease in the six weeks of twenty pounds, or two pounds per 

 head w*eekly. 



"The most extensive trials in feeding lambs on rape have 

 been carried on at the Ontario Experimental Farm. In 1890, 

 54 acres of rape pastured 17 head of steers and 537 sheep, 

 and one acre of the rape sustained 12 lambs for two months. 

 It is estimated that the food provided by an acre of rape was 

 worth $16.80. In another trial rape alone was fed to 60 lambs, 

 and they were kept on 2.18 acres for twenty-five days, during 

 which time they increased in weight 390 pounds, or an aver- 

 age w r eekly increase per head of 1.82 pounds. Again, in* an 

 experiment on one-sixth of an acre, 6 lambs were kept for 

 forty-two days, and from this it is concluded that one acre 

 would have pastured 36 lambs two months and have made 

 762 pounds of mutton. 



"At the Michigan Station 15 acres of rape pastured 128 

 lambs for seven and a half weeks, with a total gain of 2,890 

 pounds. At this rate it is estimated that one acre would pas- 

 ture 9 lambs seven w r eeks, and they would produce 202.5 

 pounds of increase. It is stated that the field would unques- 

 tionably have pastured 10 lambs for the period of ten weeks." 



Rape has a comparatively narrow nutritive ratio, since it 

 contains a large per cent of digestible protein to the per cent 

 of digestible carbohydrates, in this respect resembling clover 

 and alfalfa. Each animal requires certain quantities of these 

 elements in his daily ration for the best gains, and whether 

 the elements are bought in the market in the form of by- 

 products such as linseed meal, cotton seed meal, or anv other 



