GROWING OF RAPE 293 
and Giant. The former is more generally useful, 
especially on the light, chalky lands of England, 
and it is the only one that has given satisfaction 
in this country. The other is grown on strong 
lands, and occupies a full place in the rotation. 
Rape has taken the place of turnips to some 
extent, and is very similar in its management. 
All varieties are annual, but in England they 
sometimes do not mature seeds the first season. 
The advantages of rape are: (1) it is well adapted 
to most soils; (2) it can be seeded either in spring 
or summer, serving an excellent purpose as a 
eatch-crop and for green-forage; (3) the expense 
of seed and seeding is low; (4) it is especially 
useful for sheep and swine, although with care it 
may be profitably fed to dairy cattle. 
Preparation of land, and seeding 
The seed of rape is small, and the preparation 
of land is therefore very important. The land 
should be deeply plowed, covering all vegetable 
matter, thoroughly pulverized, and the surface soil 
made extremely fine previous to seeding. 
Although rape does well on soils of medium 
fertility, the best results are secured when they 
are naturally rich, or have been well fertilized. 
When grown for forage, an application of barn- 
yard manure at the rate of eight tons per acre, 
