38o CRUCIFER.E 



and the remainder left a little nearer together than the 'roots' 

 of a white turnip crop. 



The green rape crop usually contains about 86 per cent, of 

 water, 4 per cent, digestible carbohydrates, and 2 per cent, of 

 albuminoids. 



The seeds are very rich in oil, usually averaging about 42 per 

 cent, of this constituent. 



11. Oil- Yielding Eapes. — On the Continent several forms of 

 plants belonging to the genus Brassica are grown for their seeds, 

 from which oil is expressed or extracted, and the refuse sold 

 as ' rape cake.' In this country the oil is sold indiscriminately 

 as colza oil or rape oil. 



One of these oil-yielding plants greatly resembles the swede 

 except in its roots, which are not fleshy. Its flowers are pale 

 yellow. This is the same plant as that grown in this country 

 chiefly as a green fodder crop, and known as rape, cole, or 

 coleseed. The winter variety, of which there are several named 

 strains, is sown usually in August, and the seed harvested in the 

 following June and July. This variety gives the largest yield 

 of the best oil. There is also a summer variety of the same 

 plant which is sown in April and harvested in September of the 

 same year : it is not quite so rich in oil, and gives a poorer yield 

 than the winter one. 



Besides the above, an oil-yielding plant is grown which 

 resembles the turnip, except in its want of a thick fleshy ' root.' 

 The oil from its seeds is sold as rape or colza oil. There are 

 also winter and summer varieties of this ' rape,' the first sown 

 in August and September, and the second in May. They differ 

 from the previously mentioned rape in ripening earlier. More- 

 over, they are smaller plants, give a smaller yield of oil, and are 

 more suited to sandy soils ; they are also hardier than the 

 swede-like rape. None of these forms of turnip-like 'rape' 

 are grown in this country. 



12. The nomenclature and relationship of these forms of 



