530 



RAPE 



RAPE 



Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Wilcox & Smith, Orange 

 Judd Company; Principles of Vegetable-Gardening, 

 L. H. Bailey, The Macmillan Company. For insects 

 and diseases, New Jersey Experiment Station, Bul- 

 letin No. 94 ; New York State Experiment Station, 

 Bulletins Nos.75, 119; Massachusetts State Report, 

 1892, p. 225; same, 1890, p. 211. There is little 

 literature on the growing of these plants for stock- 

 feeding ; the above references are to horticultural 

 writings chiefly. 



RAPE. Brassica Napus, Linn. Cntciferce. Figs. 

 765-767. 



By A. L. Stone. 



Rape is grown primarily for forage and for the 

 manufacture of oil from its seeds ; also for bird- 

 seed. It is closely related to the mustard, cabbage, 

 cauliflower, kohlrabi, kale and turnip. In appear- 

 ance it very closely resembles the rutabaga or Swe- 



Pig. 763. Dwarf Essex rape, showing growtli of two months. 



dish turnip. Unlike the rutabaga, however, the rape 

 plant runs almost entirely to leaves, and its roots, 

 instead of being bulbous like the rutabaga, ate 

 fusiform or stringy, and resemble those of the cab- 

 bage. The leaves of the rape have the bluish shade 

 characteristic of the rutabaga, and are variously 

 cut and curled. The leaves grow very rank and 

 are sweet, tender and very succulent. The plants 

 grow to be one to four or more feet tall, according 

 to soil and season. 



Rape may be either annual or biennial, depend- 

 ing on the variety. The annual or summer varie- 

 ties are grown almost entirely for purposes of seed 

 production, while the biennial or winter sorts are 

 cultivated for forage purposes. In either case, at 

 flowering time the plant bears large numbers of 

 bright yellow flowers about one-half inch in length 

 and the same in diameter at the crown. The seeds 

 are small and black, with roughened seed-coats, and 

 to the uninstructed are diflScult to distinguish from 

 those of other members of the mustard family. 

 The annual varieties are reproduced by seed each 

 year ; the biennial varieties, under favorable con- 



ditions, live through the winter and produce seed 

 the second season. Bird-seed rape is' a good ex- 

 ample of the former, and Dwarf Essex rape (Fig. 

 765) of the latter. Rape must not be confused 

 with colza (page 307). 



History. 



Rape has been known in England since the six- 

 teenth century, and may possibly be native there, 

 although there seems to be no definite information 

 concerning that fact. As early as the seventeenth 

 century large quantities of oil were made from 

 rape seed in England and on the eontinent. The 

 quantity has increased, until today rape-seed oil 

 occupies an important position in the trades and 

 manufactures of Europe. The rape plant is now 

 distributed over practically all of Europe, northern 

 Asia, Canada and the United States. 



Forage rape has been known and grown for as 

 many years as the bird-seed rape, from which the 

 oil is manufactured. It has long been a strong 

 factor in the feeding practices of English and 

 Scotch farmers, and has been grown in Canada for 

 more than thirty years. Many farmers in the 

 United States have come to recognize its value as 

 a soiling crop, and its production here has rapidly 

 increased in the last ten years. 



Whether or not the growing of the German or 

 bird rape is ever practiced to any great extent in 

 the United States will depend largely on the coal- 

 oil supply. If the time ever comes when we need 

 to depend on vegetable oils for illuminating and 

 lubricating purposes, rape oil will be one of the 

 most important. 



Culture. 



Soil. — Any good, arable soil will produce good 

 crops of rape, but the plant is a gross feeder and 

 the best crops are secured on soils which are 

 very fertile and contain large quantities of humus 

 or vegetable matter. Good sod land, turned over in 

 the fall and given thorough preparation in the 

 spring, makes a good seed-bed for rape, the roots 

 of which will penetrate the sod and make use of all 

 available nourishment. Rape can also be grown to 

 . advantage on new land, as it will there produce 

 abundantly and stumps and roots will not prevent 

 stock pasturing it off. 



Fertilizing. — Rape can utilize a very large amount 

 of plant-food, and it seems impossible to furnish 

 available nutrients in too great quantities. The best 

 method of applying manure is to spread it on sod 

 in the early fall and plow later. Any soil nutrients 

 that may have leached down will then have been 

 absorbed by the grass roots and held near the sur- 

 face. Plowing late in the fall will preserve a large 

 share of the fertilizer and at the same time allow 

 the sod to decompose during the winter, and thus 

 assure a good seed-bed in the spring. 



It is a custom in some places to follow a grain 

 crop with rape without plowing. In such cases a 

 disk-harrow set to cut well and to lap one-half will 

 provide a seed-bed in which seed may safely be 

 sown. If the season is favorable a good crop of fall 

 pasturage can thus be secured. A corn-field after 



