MISCELLANEOUS PLANTS. 223 



growing plant, it will in time come more or less into 

 favor as a crop to grow for plowing under, but not 

 until the price of seed falls lower than it has been in 

 the past. 



White mustard may be sown any time after 

 the danger of spring frost is past. And the crop 

 should be fed or plowed under before the frosts of 

 autumn blight it. Since it grows rapidly it may be 

 grown as a catch crop and in various ways. A few 

 pounds of seed will suffice to sow an acre when the 

 mustard is the sole occupant of the land, * and when 

 sown along with another crop as rape, or kale, the 

 proportion of the mustard seed should not be more 

 than one-fourth or one-fifth of the whole. Although 

 mustard will grow vigorously on almost any kind of 

 soil possessed of a fair amount of plant food, and 

 although it will make considerable growth, even on 

 soils low in fertility, it has a peculiar affinity for 

 loam soils abounding in lime. It grows so rapidly 

 {hat under some conditions it will be in full bloom 

 in six weeks from the date of sowing. It should 

 be fed rather before than at the blossoming stage, 

 since the stalks quickly become woody. It is prob- 

 able that mustard fed in large quantities to cows in 

 milk would impart something of a pungent taste to 

 the milk. When plowed under the plants should 

 not be allowed to get beyond the blooming stage. 



There is no danger as with black or brown 

 mustard that the seeds will remain in the soil and 

 thus make trouble. White mustard may be dis- 

 tinguished from the black or brown by the rough 

 hairs which cover the stems of the white kind, and 

 by the peculiar shape of the pods which terminate 



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