187. RAPE and COLE SEED (Brassica napus) are different varieties of a plant with yellow cruciform flowers and, spindle-shaped root, which grows wild upon ditch banks, and amongst corn.
This plant is distinguished from others of the same tribe by its roots being a regular continuation of the stem.
In several parts of England rape and cole seed are sown intermixed, the plants being distinguishable in their growth by the cole exceeding the rape in height, being more soft and tender, and less branched and bushy. When sown separately the cole is usually, though not always, consumed as food for sheep and cattle; and the rape is allowed to stand for seed. For the cultivation of rape the soil ought to be rich and deep.
The harvest commences about the month of August; and as the seed, when in a state of maturity, is easily shed, it is customary, in some places, to thresh the plants on a large cloth in the field. Rape-cloths are sometimes so large as to measure twenty yards square, and to weigh more than half a ton. The threshing is almost always considered a sort of festival, at which a great portion of the neighbours attend, in order to expedite the work; and they are repaid by the good cheer of their brother farmer. In other places the rape is carried on a cloth, in a low kind of waggon, to be threshed out of the field.
Oil is obtained from rape-seed by pressure. This is used, in large quantities, by clothiers and others. It is also used in medicine; and for making the soap called green soap. It is likewise useful for various purposes in domestic life, and particularly for burning in lamps; but it is apt to become rancid, though there are means of purifying it. After the oil has been extracted, the refuse is called oil-cake, and is employed for the fattening of oxen; and, in Norfolk, is sometimes broken to pieces, and strewed upon the land as manure. The roots of rape plants may be eaten like turnips, but they have a stronger taste. The stalks, or haulm, if strong, may be advantageously employed in the formation of the enclosing fences of farm-yards. They are, however, generally burnt; and in some parts of the country, the ashes, which are equal in quality to the best pot-ashes, are collected together and sold.
188. The TURNIP (Brassica rapa) is a well-known edible root, which is cultivated to great extent in almost every part of England.
To the farmer turnips are, in various particulars, a most valuable crop. They afford a profitable intervening crop with corn. Both the tops and roots are eaten by sheep. Horses and cattle may be advantageously fed upon the roots during winter; but the milk of cows receives an unpleasant flavour from them. This flavour is also communicated to the butter; but it may be taken off by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, and putting a small tea-cupful of it into about eight gallons of milk, when warm from the cow. Turnips also serve as food for mankind, either boiled or roasted. In the years 1629, 1636, and 1693, during the pressure of a severe famine, bread is stated to have been made of turnips in several parts of England, particularly in the county of Essex. The process was to put the turnips into a kettle over a slow fire, till they became soft; they were then taken out, squeezed as dry as possible, mixed with an equal quantity of flour, and, after having been kneaded with yeast, salt, and a little warm water, were made into loaves and baked. In bread thus made the peculiar taste of the turnip is said to be scarcely perceptible.
These roots have been much recommended as sea store, from the possibility, with care, of preserving them for a great length of time uninjured, and from their furnishing an agreeable and wholesome food for sailors, on long voyages. The young and tender tops of turnips, when boiled, afford an agreeable substitute for greens.
For the cultivation of turnips a light soil, particularly such as consists of a mixture of sand and loam, is found preferable to rich and heavy land. Turnips are raised from seed, which it has long been the established custom to sow in the month of June. As soon as the young plants have attained a tolerable size, they are hoed, for the purpose of thinning them. In their growth they suffer much by the attacks of slugs, caterpillars, and insects of different kinds, particularly of a small, dark beetle with two longitudinal yellowish stripes (Chrysomela nemorum), which is called by farmers the turnip-fly. For the destruction of this insect many plans have, at different times, been devised.
Turnips are either eaten on the land by cattle, or are drawn out and stacked, or preserved under ground for winter use; and, in this state, they may be kept sound till April.