ANNUAL EEPORT—AGRICULTURE. 
85 
weeds that may spring np after it gets fairly established, and 
inducing that peculiar fermentation and lightening of soil 
wbicli are found so favorable to succeeding crops. No other 
crpp is so good a preparer of the soil for winter wheat, the 
yield of which is several bushels per acre more after it, other 
things being equal, than otherwise. 
6. It succeeds admirably upon sod and is its best possible 
preparer for other crops. The sod upon which it has been 
grown is so rotted by the fermentation induced as to crumble 
into mould under the process of preparing for any succeeding 
crop. 
7. It requires no labor during the period of growth, and is 
easily harvested. It may be cut with a cradle, scythe or mower, 
thrown together in little heaps after curing, and when dry 
enough to thresh, gathered in a tight wagon bed, or an ordi¬ 
nary wagon or rack, spread over with strong sheets or a piece 
of canvass. 
8. It is harvested at a most convenient time—during the first 
half of September—after the cereal harvests are all out of the 
way, and before the corn and potato harvests begin. 
9. It is easily prepared for market. When properly cured, it 
shells with such facility that one team of horses will tread it 
out as fast as another can haul it in. It may be screened in 
an ordinary fanning mill, and is then ready for market. 
10. The crop is a profitable one. The average amount per 
acre is equal to, or rather greater than, that of wheat, and the 
price is usually much higher, though determined by the price 
of the oil. In 1865 the price was $2.25 to $2.75 per bushel. 
Last year it was about $2.00. One bushel of seed yields 
about two gallons of oil, the market value of which is 
equal to that of the best lard or sperm oil. The real value is 
greater, for the reason that it is not only a first class illumi¬ 
nating oil, but also a lubricator of much value, not simply on 
account of its lubricating properties, but also because it 
requires an intense degree of cold to solidify it. 
There are but two circumstances that militate against the 
entire success of the rape as a general farm crop: 
