u 
and mail}' inquiries have come to the Station concerning it. 
Roots and seed were imported from France hj" this Sta¬ 
tion during 181)4, and were tried under various conditions. 
The seed failed entirely to grow, though tried in field culture, 
garden plats, and by greenhouse methods. Some roots started 
in the greenhouse during the latter part of winter, were well 
grown when set out in rich ground the fir^t week in May. 
They were near a hydrant, where they could be watered 
abundantly and seemed in vigor all the summer. But the 
amount of growth was disappointing. The most vigorous 
plant did not grow two feet tall. For a few days during the 
hottest part of the summer, the plants seemed to make a 
vigorous growth, but with the first chilly nights the growth 
ceased. They blossomed but ripened no seed. The climate 
is apparently not warm enough for the plant to make a profit¬ 
able growth. 
Rape, For maii}^ years rape has been grown in France 
and Germany for the oil contained in its seeds, and in England 
as a forage crop. Within the past five years, it has been 
introduced into Canada, and a few experimental patches have 
been grown in the United States. The most flattering accounts 
of it from either England or Canada, do not credit it with a 
vigor of growth equal to that it displayed on the College 
Farm the past season. An excellent crop in Canada is con¬ 
sidered to be from nine to thirteen tons per acre. Of all the 
plats grown on the farm none yielded so low as the higher of 
these numbers. It was sown at different times and by differ¬ 
ent methods, and several varieties, and the smallest yield of 
all was twenty-two tons to the acre. One plat doubled this 
and a spot of special luxuriance gave a yield of fifteen pounds 
from four square feet or at the rate of seventy-five tons per 
acre. 
There would seem to be no question about the plant’s 
being adapted to Colorado soil and climate, the points now to 
be worked up are the 1)est methods of planting, harvesting, 
and feeding. On these the Station is planning to do consider¬ 
able work, the present season. 
For the benefit of tliose not familiar with the plant, we 
may say that it looks and grows like a rutabaga turnip with 
an extra large top and a small tough root. The top is the 
part eaten. It is sown in drills or broadcast, any time from 
April 20th to August 5th. The seed is very cheap, costing less 
than twenty-five cents to seed an acre. The plant is ready 
to pasture or to harvest at sixty days from planting. Two 
crops can be grown on the same ground the same season. It 
takes a hard freeze to injure it. It cannot be dried for hay, 
but is pastured or cut for a soiling crop or for ensilage. It is 
