COLZA

is a variety of cabbage, the bra ica oleracea , whose seeds afford, by pre ure, an oil much employed in France and Belgium for burning in lamps, and for many other purposes. This plant requires a rich but light soil; it does not succeed upon either sandy or clayey lands. The ground for it must be deeply ploughed and well dunged. It should be sown in July, and be afterwards replanted in a richly manured field. In October it is to be planted out in beds, 15 or 18 inches apart. Colza may also be sowed in furrows 8 or 10 inches asunder. Land which has been just cropped for wheat is that usually destined to colza; it may be fresh dunged with advantage. The harvest takes place in July, with the sickle, a little before the seeds are completely ripe, lest they should drop off. As the seed is productive of oil, however, only in proportion to its ripene , the cut plants are allowed to complete their maturation, by laying them in heaps under airy sheds, or placing them in a stack, and thatching it with straw. The cabbage stalks are thrashed with flails, the seeds are winnowed, sifted, spread out in the air to dry; then packed away in sacks, in order to be subjected to the oil mill at the beginning of winter. The oil-cake is a very agreeable food to cattle, and serves to fatten them. It is reckoned to defray the cost of the mill. Colza impoverishes the soil very much, as do, indeed, all the plants cultivated for the sake of their oleaginous seeds. It must not, therefore, be come back upon again for six years, if fine crops be desired. The double ploughing which it requires, effectually cleans the ground. See Oils, Unctuous .