RAPE. I? rassiea Napus, Linn. Cruciform. Figs. 165-767.
Rape is grown primarily for forage and for the manufacture of oil from its seeds ; also for bird seed. It is closely related to the mustard, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, kale and turnip. In appear ance it very closely resembles the rutabaga or Swe dish turnip. Unlike the rutabaga, however, the rape plant runs almost entirely to leaves, and its roots, instead of being bulbous like the rutabaga, are fusiform or stringy, and resemble those of the cab bage. The leaves of the rape have the bluish shade characteristic of the rutabaga, and are variously cut and curled. The leaves grow very rank and are sweet, tender and very succulent. The plants grow to be one to four or more feet tall, according to soil and season.
Rape may be either annual or biennial, depend ing on the variety. The annual or summer varie ties are grown almost entirely for purposes of seed production, while the biennial or winter sorts are cultivated for forage purposes. In either case, at flowering time the plant bears large numbers of bright yellow flowers about one-half inch in length and the same in diameter at the crown. The seeds are small and black, with roughened seed-coats, and to the uninstructed are difficult to distinguish from those of other members of the mustard family. The annual varieties are reproduced by seed each year ; the biennial varieties, under favorable con ditions, live through the winter and produce seed the second season. Bird-seed rape is a good ex ample of the former, and Dwarf Essex rape (Fig. 765) of the hitter. Rape must not be confused with colza (page 307).
History.
Rape has been known in England since the six teenth century, and may possibly be native there, although there seems to be no definite information concerning that fact. As early as the seventeenth century large quantities of oil were made from rape seed in England and on the continent. The quantity has increased, until today rape-seed oil occupies an important position in the trades and manufactures of Europe. The rape plant is now
distributed over practically ail of Europe, northern Asia, Canada and the United States.
Forage rape has been known and grown for as many years as the bird-seed rape, from which the oil is manufactured. It has long been a strong factor in the feeding practices of English and Scotch farmers, and has been grown in Canada for more than thirty years. Many farmers in the United States have come to recognize its value as a soiling crop, and its production here has rapidly increased in the last ten years.
Whether or not the growing of the German or bird rape is ever practiced to any great extent in the United States will depend largely on the coal oil supply. If the time ever comes when we need to depend on vegetable oils for illuminating and lubricating purposes, rape oil will be one of the most important.
Culture.
good, arable soil will produce good crops of rape, but the plant is a gross feeder and the best crops are secured on soils which are very fertile and contain large quantities of humus or vegetable matter. Good sod land, turned over in the fall and given thorough preparation in the spring, makes a good seed-bed for rape, the roots of which will penetrate the sod and make use of all available nourishment. Rape can also be grown to advantage on new land, as it will there produce abundantly and stumps and roots will not prevent stock pasturing it off.
can utilize a very large amount of plant-food, and it seems impossible to furnish available nutrients in too great quantities. The best method of applying manure is to spread it on sod in the early fall and plow later. Any soil nutrients that may have leached down will then have been absorbed by the grass roots and held near the sur face. Plowing late in the fall will preserve a large share of the fertilizer and at the same time allow the sod to decompose during the winter, and thus assure a good seed-bed in the spring.