388 [ASSEMBLT 



seeds in the same summer, a peculiarity very remarkable in any 

 species of cabbage. Like all cabbages, Colza loves a free, well- 

 tilled, and richly manured land. 



Winter Colza is best sown broadcast. Immediately after a 

 summer crop has been taken off, till the land and harrow it well; 

 sow the seed broadcast, then harrow it in with a two toothed har- 

 row; then roll it, first one way and then the other. Then have 

 a sort of plow with small shares, eight feet apart, with which run 

 lurrows down the slopes of the field to carry off water. In about 

 two months the plants will be well up; hill them up from the 

 furrows. Good Colza growers use not less than forty loads of 

 dung on a hectare, (i. e.) about eighteen loads an acre. 



The seed required per acre is about a quart (it is about the 

 size and color of turnip seed) for drill planting, and about three 

 quarts for broad cast. The seeds are contained in long pods^ 

 with many seeds in each, say not less than ten. It is necessary 

 to be particular in gathering the crop, for if too soon the oil is 

 imperfect; if too late, you lose the seed by the bursting of the 

 pods. 



In Belgium they cut handsful with the sickle four or five inches 

 from the ground, and lay them in rows as they proceed. In dry 

 weather they cut only in the morning, because then the pods are 

 firmly closed, letting very few seeds escape. When the stalks are 

 dry enough, which is usually in two or three days, they gather 

 up the whole in cloths, and carry them to the barn to be thrashed^ 

 and then the seed to the mill. The mill works the seed only 

 when it is perfectly dry. The mill has a bed of straw about 

 three to four inches thick on which they spread as much. 



The crop is about ten bushels per acre, and yields about or 

 nearly one half in oil. 



But Perry, of Brooklyn, who has a company organized there^ 

 with a capital of $300,000, should look to oil from our cotton 

 seed instead of colza. The seed of cotton is estimated to weigh 

 about three times as much as its fibre, so that when our country 

 produces three millions of bales of the fibre, of 400 pounds a 



