Campbell's 1902 Soil Cultlt^e MA>-rAL. 



91 



It is a leaf}', succulent plant, resembling a turnip, except that the foliage 

 is more abundant, the plant growing from two to four feet high but pro- 

 ducing no edible root. 



VERITIES. 



The Dwarf Essex and Victoria varieties are grown. They are of 

 about equal ralue. but the former is rather more common. These varieties 

 do not produce seed the first year. As they are killed by the first heavy 

 freeze, they never produce seed in this latitude, all seed coming from 

 Europe. The plant fives over winter in Cafifornia and it is hoped seed 

 may soon be secured from that locality. The seed can be secured from 

 any reputable seedsman at a cost of about six to eight cents per pound, in 

 lots of ten pounds or over, 



A PASTURE CROP. 



Rape is used only for pasture or soiling purposes. It cannot be 

 cured for hay. As pasture it is best adapted to sheep and hogs, but can 

 be used for cattle to advantage where there is a shortage of late summer 

 and faU feed. 



It can be sown in drills or broadcast in early spring, when it will be 

 ready to pasture by early June. If sown in driUs about two pounds of 

 seed should be sown per acre with a garden driU, in rows twelve to twenty 

 inches apart. The narrow rows may be cultivated with a wheel garden 

 hoe, or the wider ones with a horse. After about two cultivations to kill 

 the weeds, the crop will take care of itself and may be used sparingly for 

 pasture when it is a foot high. If pastured when small and tender, ani- 

 mals bite off close and the root fails to send up new shoots, but later in 

 the season, when the stalk has become larger and stronger, it may be pas- 

 tured down the second or third time and will still come on for another 

 crop. 



SOWING THE CROP. 



When sown broadcast without any other crop, as much as five 

 pounds of seed per acre may be sown to advantage, as this thicker seeding 

 helps to choke the weeds and cover the ground sooner than a thinner 

 seeding. When sown alone the land should be well prepared by previous 

 harrowing and discing to kill the weeds and store up the moisture in 

 the soil. Sow any time from the middle of April to late in June, on weU 

 prepared land at the rate of about five pounds of seed per acre and you 

 will soon have a fine stand and a splendid hog and sheep pasture which 

 will last all summer long if not eaten down too closely. 



AS A SECOND CROP. 



In the states adjacent to Nebraska, rape is most valued as a crop 

 which may be sown with grain in the spring and comes on after the grain 



