FORAGE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1243, 27 September 1911, Page 8

FORAGE.

FRENCH MARROW-CABBAGE. A' paramount'deniahd of tho farm today is for crops that may to some extent replace, or At least supplement, rape and turnips. ■ • • • . .Qf.such: plants, and a-number of the same family (says Mr. E. Clifton, in. the Journal of the Department of Agriculture), the French ni arrow-cabbage, or chon moellie'r, presents itself. It is comparatively indifferent to drought, its growth extends into winter, and, has exhibited marked ..- indifference to disease. It yields a heavy crop of succulent foliage,, and the stalks attain a height of from 4fr" to 6ft.. - These aro solid and fleshy, ''the' fibrous or .woody texture of the ordinary kale or.cabbago being absent. ■ For small culture the leaves are stripped'several-times during the season, or the whole can be chaffed and fed to stock—a " most economical method, as there is no waste. In somecountries .where turnips, are not a common farm, crop, Chou Moellieris pulped, and in that form fed to stock: . It is acceptable to all animals on the farm. On • the experiment farms it has been fed off as kale or rape. It is found that if this method is.adopted the plant should not ha- permitted to approach maturity, arid it must not be fed closely; it then renews its foliage. .As with-rape, the crown must not be destroyed. With this experience and caution a valuable addition to the forage crop of the farm is secured in Chou Moellier.

■The preparation, of the land should be as for rape, or kal-e,. and the .manure should be liberal, as the Weight of the crop is large.- It is also a large plant, and to emsure its vigour it demands an ample' supply of. food. For small culture tho plants ,may bo raised in small seod-beds, and' planted out as cabbage. If tlio soil is Teally rich the rovrs fnay he 3ft. 6in. wide and the plants 2ft. 6in. apart. For the farm the seed can be sown as mangolds on the raised drill or ridge, and the same treatment applied as to that root.: Tho cultivator or horse-hoc to stir and clean the soil must not .bo neglected. When the plants are.well grown and tho is scVHsablo to'nstf-a moulding or breastnlongh to csj'th up the soil as a support to the plant. The Department of Agriculture suggests tliat farmers should experiment with tho plant on a small area—say, one- acre, the plant being of great promise. Reports on any such eiperimeuts would bo ivelconied.