Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Manual. 



93 



at first, to have the stock full of other feed, either pasture or grain, so they 

 will not be hungry and eat too greedily. Some farmers practice turning 

 their stock on the rape from other pastures and leaving them there only an 

 hour or so each day until they become used to it. I have generally found 

 little difficulty with animals put on rape for the first time, as they prefer 

 other foods until they learn to eat the rape plant and seldom overfill. 



RAPE COMES WITH INTENSIVE METHODS. 



As we are endeavoring to secure larger profit per acre from our land, 

 it is often necessary to take advantage of a catch crop to add to the profit 

 and increase the stock-carrying capacity of our farms. Whether or not 

 we can do this wiU depend on our location and amount of our rainfaU. 

 Experience has shown that rape as a catch crop, when pastured off. 

 increases rather than decreases the fertility of the land. Experiments in 

 North Dakota and practical experience on many Minnesota farms show a 

 larger yield of grain following rape than where no rape had been grown. 

 It also showed fields cleaner from weeds and in better condition to raise 

 the next crop. 



In Nebraska the wheat fields can be sown to rape and followed by 

 corn without any loss of time on the crop. But a rape field could not be 

 pastured and sown to winter wheat as we wish the pasture late in the 

 season. 



A SUMMER FEEDING GROUND. 



The wheat and rape fields of Nebraska are excellently situated to in- 

 tercept the range lamb as he comes from the range in August and Septem- 

 ber on his way to market. The range lamb is practically as heavy in 

 August as in November. He can be fattened on the waste products of our 

 Nebraska farms with little or no grain feeding and sent forward a finished 

 lamb before winter sets in. This is being done with thousands of range 

 lambs in Nebraska today and the business should be greatly developed. 



The rape field may be exactly the thing needed to tide the farmer 

 over with his cattle from summer to autumn pasture. It cannot be de- 

 pended on as the only means of carrying stock through the :?ummer but it 

 is a valuable adjunct to good pastures and a great assistance in stock 

 farming. 



Note. — We are of the opinion that Prof. Burnett's idea of the rape 

 field for the range lamb to cheaply and quickly fatten him in the fall 

 months is a very practical one in any part of the semi-arid belt, and may be 

 made one of certain success regardless of the. possible dry mid summer 

 and early autumn, by taking a piece of ground and proceeding precisely 

 according to bur plan for summer-culture, storing the moisture from early 

 spring up to the middle of June, then plow and prepare land thoroughly, 

 getting a fine, firm seed and root bed with a good soil mulch. Sow the 



