218 Feeds and Feeding. 



prickles of the leaves are scorched off by fire before feeding. 

 Carothers 1 reports: "During the severe drought of last winter 

 and the previous one many thousands of cattle were fed upon the 

 scorched pear cactus leaves, but it was the universal experience 

 that it was necessary to give some species of roughage with it; 

 that if fed alone it would not be assimilated and would cause 

 scouring or diarrhoea." 



The feed is sometimes prepared by steaming the chopped leaves 

 mixed with cotton seed, and this compound is reported as very 

 satisfactory. '^ 



334. Forage rape. — Though as yet grown in but a limited way 

 the rape plant is rapidly gaining in favor in this country, mainly 

 through the instrumentality of our Experiment Stations, which 

 have brought it prominently to the attention of stockmen. The 

 Dwarf Essex is the variety commonly sown. In a few instances 

 bird-seed rape has been sown, resulting in a product of no feeding 

 value. Eape may be sown at any time from early spring until 

 August in the Northern states, the seed being scattered at the 

 rate of three or four pounds per acre broadcast, or two or three 

 pounds per acre in drills thirty inches apart. Only in the latter 

 form is any cultivation required. The crop is harvested by turn- 

 ing stock directly into the rape field to consume the abundant 

 nutritious leaves and stems, which are the parts eaten. It cannot 

 be utilized to advantage as a dry forage, nor as silage owing to its 

 large water content. Zavitz* reports a yield of twenty-seven tons 

 per acre from two pounds of seed sown in drills twenty-seven 

 inches apart, the crop being cultivated every ten days. At the 

 "Wisconsin Station, * Craig secured a yield of nine and three- 

 quarters tons of rape at a single cutting from a half acre of land, 

 while a small plat yielded at the rate of thirty -six tons per acre , 

 from two cuttings. 



333. Lses of rape. — For cattle, rape is highly prized by some 

 feeders for furnishing a succulent feed during the fall months 

 and preparing them for winter. It has also been fed to dairy cows, 

 but must be used with caution lest it taint the milk. Trials at 



> Agr. 8ci., Vol. I, 1887, No. 11. 



= yee Hul. 3. Bot. Div. U. S. Dep. Agr. 



' Kept 19, Out. Agr. Col. ■■ Kept. 11. 



