Rape

This plant is generally cultivated for its seeds, like Mustard. It is, however, sometimes grown for salad; the seeds being sown in April, and, for a succession, once in three or four weeks till August or September. Sow thickly, in drills ten or twelve inches apart, and cover half an inch deep. The soil should be rich and moist, in order to induce a rapid growth, and thus to give a tender, succulent character to the young leaves; these being the parts eaten. They are served like Lettuce, or boiled and treated as Coleworts or Spinach. For mixing with Cress or Lettuce, the plants are cut to the ground before the development of the second leaves.

The species are as follow:—

Annual Rough-Leaved Summer Rape. Law.

Turnip Rape. Brassica rapa.

Root fusiform, small, hard, and woody; radical leaves lyrate, vivid green, and without any appearance of the glaucous bloom for which the biennial sorts are so distinguished; the stem-leaves are slightly glaucous, smooth, or nearly so,—the lower ones cut on the borders, the upper entire; the seeds are small, and similar to those of the common field turnip, of which it seems to be either a variety, or the source from which the latter has been derived.

Common or Winter Rape. Law.

Cole-seed. Brassica napus.

Biennial; root long, tapering, hard, and woody, like that of the species before described. The leaves are smooth, thick, and fleshy, and of much the same form as those of the Annual Rough-leaved Summer Rape; this species, however, being readily distinguished, when young, by its uniformly smooth leaves. The seeds, also, are larger than those of the last-named species; but this is not to be relied upon as a distinguishing characteristic, as the size of the seeds, in this as in most other plants, is liable to be materially altered by the soil as well as by the previous culture of the seed-stock.

The seeds are sown in summer, and the crop ripens the following year. It is not adapted to the climate of the Northern States.

In England, the foregoing species are extensively cultivated both for forage and for seed; the latter being used to a limited extent for feeding birds, but chiefly for the production of rape-seed oil.

German Rape. Law.

Annual or Early Rape. Smooth-leaved Summer Rape. Brassica præcox.

The German Rape somewhat resembles the Common or Winter. It differs in being of annual duration; in its more deeply divided leaves, more erect pods, and smaller seeds.

It would unquestionably succeed well in almost any part of the Northern or Middle States, and might prove as remunerative a crop as corn or wheat. The seeds should be sown in May; and the plants should be treated and the crop harvested, in all respects, as Mustard. It is sometimes sown broadcast, but generally in drills. When sown broadcast, eight or ten pounds of seed will be required for an acre; if in drills, three or four pounds will be sufficient. The yield varies from twenty to forty bushels per acre.

Summer Rape. Law.

Colza. Wild Navew. Brassica campestris.

A biennial plant, with a tapering, hard, and fibrous root. The radical leaves are lyrate and roughish when young; those of the stem clasping, or heart-shaped, at base, and of an oblong form,—all somewhat fleshy, of a dark-green color, with a glaucous bloom. The seeds are larger than those of the Ruta-baga, or Swedish Turnip, but in other respects not distinguishable.

This species is sometimes termed Brassica campestris olifer, or Oil-rape, from its being considered the best sort of rape for cultivating for oil; and to distinguish it from the Campestris Ruta-baga, or Swedish Turnip, which is only a variety of this species.

It is not sufficiently hardy for cultivation in the Northern States.