HAY AND PASTURE PLANTS RECOMMENDED. 67 
themselves, certainly, abundantly, and reasonably as far as cost is con- 
cerned. The question is, Will they take the trouble? Many of them 
will be surprised when informed that the well-known peanut is one of 
the most valuable fodder plants for this section of Texas. They may 
safely use either one of the two very distinct varieties, ‘‘common,” 
which produces the peanut of commerce, or the ‘*Spanish.” It may 
also surprise them to be told that peanut-vine hay is about as nutri- 
tious as red clover and richer than timothy, and that peanut meal makes 
a richer stock food than cotton-seed meal. Yet these are facts. Sev- 
eral tests were made in the station garden in 1900 to determine how pea- 
nut hay could be utilized to the best advantage. Seeds of both of the 
varieties were secured and planted in rows so as to admit of cultivat- 
ing the soil. Being dry, rather sandy upland, good stands and good 
yields-of both vines and nuts were secured. The Spanish variety gave 
the better results so far as the quantity of vines was concerned; but 
the common variety gave a better yield of fruit. When the pods were 
about half grown the vines were pulled up, turned with the nuts to 
the sun, allowed to cure, and when cured, were thrown into shocks, 
and later made into bales. Several months thereafter the baled prod- 
ucts were examined and vines and nuts found to be sweet, and when 
fed to cattle, every stem, leaf, and nut was eaten. For the benefit of 
those who may care to look into the subject, it is recommended that 
they send to the Department of Agriculture for Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
25, Peanuts: Culture and Uses; study it carefully, and then put in 
good-sized fields of peanuts, not for the matured peanuts, but solely 
with the view to using the vines and half-green nuts for forage pur- 
poses. It will pay well in years when there is a normal amount of 
rainfall. 
Rare (Brassica napus). 
This succulent and nutritious forage plant, which is closely related 
to the Swede turnip, can be easily and profitably grown in the deep, 
rich, warm loams and sandy soils to be found in all the counties of 
central Texas. It makes an excellent feed for either cattle or sheep, 
and will stand a great deal of hot and dry weather. Of the several 
varieties that are well known in the United States and Canada, the 
Dwarf Essex is the most widely cultivated. Seeds of this variety 
were sown April 18, 1899, in the grass garden, in low, rather moist, but 
not very fertile soil. A good stand was secured and the plants grew 
vigorously, but they were attacked by prairie dogs and jack rabbits 
before the garden could be closed in with wire netting, and not a plant 
was saved. In 1900 plantings were made March 19 and 26 in the same 
kind of soil, and a good stand secured. The plants quickly grew 12 
to 24 inches high, and when other things were suffering during the 
summer on account of the hot and dry winds, the rape plants held 
their own surprisingly well. 
