FEEDING CROPS FOR SHEEP 153 



leaves of the crop, it is scarcely to be doubted that this 

 might as easily be subjected to this process as well. As 

 rape is a close relative to the cabbage, which is kept in 

 good condition through the Winter In pits, as will be de- 

 scribed in a succeeding page, the experiment might reason- 

 ably turn out to be successful and this crop saved for Win- 

 ter feeding. As rape contains nearly one pound of sulphur 

 in a ton of it, and this is an indispensable ingredient in 

 wool, in which there is more than three and a half pounds 

 of it in a hundred pounds of the wool, this is a matter of 

 great importance in regard to the feeding of sheep for the 

 lleece, for it is a rule, in both plant and animal growth, 

 that every element in the composition of any product must 

 be fully supplied as regards all of them, or the product will 

 be deficient in quantity or in quality in proportion. The 

 wool grower thus must see that every element of the 

 fleece must be supplied or the weight or quality must be 

 reduced. 



This plant has been extensively tried and has been 

 found valuable and successful everywhere from Minne- 

 sota and Wisconsin, to Missouri, Kansas, Arizona, in the 

 Southern States (where the WMnter variety may be grown) 

 and all through the middle States and Canada. Several 

 communications to The American Sheep Breeder, from cor- 

 respondents have been published in that Journal, testifying 

 to the value of this crop. From these, two are selected as 

 showing the value of this crop. One from Kansas, says: 



"I live 80 south and 60 miles east of Kansas City. On 

 April 6 I sowed broadcast 10 pounds of Dwarf Essex rape 

 seed on a little less than two acres of groumd. Notwith- 

 standing we had a very cold, backward Spring, it came up 

 and grew rapidly. On May 20, at which time it was fully 

 knee high, I turfted 96 head of ewes and lambs on it, only 

 for a short time at first, but afterwards allowing them 1o 

 eat their fill of it twice a day, when they would be turned 

 back on grass pasture. At the time I turned the sheep on 

 it it was very dry, and continued so for two weeks, yet it 

 has furnished feed for the 96 head for three weeks, and it is 

 not all eaten up yet. I find that it should be sown on rich 

 soil, where the surface is free from clay, for good results. 

 One corner of my patch was a clay soil, and in that corner 



