196 Feeds and Feeding. 



thruout the United States. This member of the turnip family 

 .stores its nutriment in the numerous leaves and stems, the parts 

 eaten by stock. The Dwarf Essex variety should be sown, bird- 

 seed rape being worthless. While rape can be used for soiling, it 

 is best to let stock harvest the crop. Rape is too watery for silage. 

 The seed may be sown from early spring until August at the North 

 and later at the South, either broadcast, in drills and cultivated, or 

 finally with corn just previous to the last cultivation. In from 8 

 to 12 weeks after seeding the crop is large enough for use. Zavitz 

 of the Ontario College^ reports a yield of 27 tons of rape forage 

 per acre from 2 lbs. of seed sown in drills 27 inches apart, the crop 

 having been cultivated every 10 days. 



Cattle which during the fall months have the run of a rape field, 

 together with pasture, will go into winter quarters in high condi- 

 tion. To avoid tainting the milk, rape should be fed or grazed 

 directly after milking only. Swine having the run of a rape field, 

 along with clover or blue-grass pasture and grain, find in the rape 

 both succulence and nutriment. Rape alone will, however, cause 

 pigs to put on but little gain. Pigs, especially the white breeds, 

 running in rape when the leaves are wet, may suffer from a skin 

 affection. (895, 899) Rape has its largest use on sheep farms, and, 

 since the sheep gather the crop, its cost is insignificant compared 

 with the returns. Cabbage, rape, turnips, etc., like all cruciferous 

 plants, have an unusually high content of sulfur, which may ex- 

 plain in part their high value with sheep. (760, 761) Access to 

 clover or blue-grass pasture when on rape is highly advantageous 

 to all stock, besides preventing bloat or hoven. When feeding 

 grain to rape-pastured stock, the rape will about support the ani- 

 mal, leaving the grain to go wholly for making gain. The stock- 

 man, familiar with the value, uses, and methods of growing rape, 

 wdll prize this easily growTi crop. 



283. Spurry, Spergula arvensis. — The dairy farmers of Holland 

 and other European countries cultivate spurry to some extent. 

 The plant has, however, proved of little value in this country and 

 should be let alone. 



284. Prickly comfrey, Symphytum asperrimum. — This plant, oc- 

 casionally exploited by advertisers, has little merit in comparison 

 with the standard forage plants. When carefully cultivated it 

 gives quite large returns of forage which at first is not relished by 



' Rpt. 19. 



