SEEDING OF RAPE 295 
The quantity should be increased in dry weather 
and on poor lands. When sown broadeast, three 
to five pounds per acre will be sufficient, and when 
sown in drills from one to two pounds is recom- 
mended. For soiling purposes, it should prefera- 
bly be seeded in drills and about the time that 
corn is seeded, or when time of severe freezing is 
past. Machinery adapted for planting small seeds 
ean be successfully used for this purpose. 
Tillage should begin as soon as the plants are 
well started, and repeated as frequently as possible 
until the plants have arrived at such stage of 
growth as will not permit of further cultivation 
without injury. Ordinary cultivators will answer 
for the work, but one that will cut close to the line 
of the row, without covering the plants, is the 
best, especially in the earlier stages of growth. 
As with corn, the first cultivation should be deep 
and gradually become shallow as the roots take 
possession of the soil. 
Feeding value of rape crop 
The value of rape as forage is chiefly as a 
soiling crop or for pasture; that is, it cannot be 
harvested and preserved with advantage. When 
used as a soiling crop, it may be cut with a mower 
and placed in heaps, which will remain good for 
two or three days. The following description of 
