VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 413 



good varieties, they are much more digestible than when 

 older and more fibrous. 



Marketing. — Tie in bundles after washing. The string 

 is placed on the bundle about three inches from the point 

 where the tops leave the root. This will make the vege- 

 table lie flat in the package. The shipment is made in 

 crates, or in ventilated barrels. 



RAPE, OR COLZA. — (Brassica Napus, var. oleracea.) 



Rape, or Colza, is a biennial plant of the cabbage tribe, 

 a native of England, with glaucous radical leaves and 

 yellow flowers, appearing early in spring. It is often 

 called kale. 



Culture. — Sow at the same time with cresses and mus- 

 tard in late winter and spring. Sow in drills or beds, and 

 follow the culture directed for white mustard. Rape, 

 sown like turnips the first of September, will survive the 

 frosts and afford an abundance of fine greens the latter 

 part of winter and early in spring, wherever the turnip 

 will stand the winter. 



Seed. — A few plants sown in August and September, 

 and kept over, will flower and seed the next year abun- 

 dantly. 



Use. — The seed leaves are gathered young for a small 

 salad with cresses and mustard. Later it is used like 

 mustard for greens. This plant is much cultivated in 

 Europe for the oil expressed from its seeds. 



Rape, Edible-Rooted, or French Turnip (B. Napus, 

 rar. esculenla) is another variety with edible roots, some- 

 times cultivated as a substitute for the turnip. The root 

 is white, carrot-shaped, about the size of the middle 

 finger. It is much grown in Germany and France. This 

 is not the French turnip of the North, but is the Teltow 

 of the Germans. 



