November 7, Wfl. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOOLTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



348 



CULTIVATION OF HORSERADISH. 



UI.TIVATING tlie Horse- 

 radish mny nppenr so simple, 

 that at iirst sif;lit many on 

 reading the title of this pa- 

 per will exclaim, " How ri- 

 diculous ! Everybody can 

 p-dw 1 [nrsi^radish. How unwise to waste the space of ' our 

 Journal ' with a paper on such a subject." I must, how- 

 ever, crave the patience of my readers, and hope that when 

 they liavc followed mo through this article they will think 

 there is, after all, something in knowing how to grow good 

 Horseradish 



Ten days ago it would liave been one of the last things 



I should have selected for notice, but since that time I 



have been so impressed witli its great usefulness that I at 



once made u)) my mind to give the Joui'nal's readers the 



benefit of what I had seen. 



A few evenings ago I met at a friend's house in the 

 neighbourhood of Manchester several horticulturists — one 

 of them a celebrated groiver of Grapes and Pines for 

 marlfct, and another an extensive grower, whoso mode of 

 cultivating Horseradish I am about to describe. Both of 

 these gentlemen, like my friend the host of the evening, 

 arc enthusiasts on all matters pertaining to a garden. 

 After a long chat about gardening matters generally, the 

 subject of the Thompson testimonial was introduced by 

 mj' friend, who managed this very appropriately by reading 

 a letter of mine which lately appeared in the .lounial. No 

 sooner had lie finished reading the letter than he gave me 

 a guinea for the testimonial, and the others likewise con- 

 tributed : so that I considered my evening well spent, for 

 I not only gained the knowledge I am about to impart, 

 but also a small sum for the 'I'hompson testimonial. I 

 should feel well pleased if I had the chance of similarly 

 acquiring knowledge on various other subjects. 



ilr. Kelsall i.s the grower wlio has produced such remark- 

 able results in the cultivation of Horseradish. It appears 

 that some years ago there lived in the neighbourhood of 

 Stretford a man who was a very successful grower. Mr. 

 Kelsall thinking he could make more out of Horseradish 

 than the person above referred to, offered him a certain 

 sum of money for the secret of how to grow it, and also 

 for his stock of young plants. Tlie bargain was made, 

 and this is tho way Mr. Kelsall makes his Horseradish- 

 beds. 



Early in the spring, about tho beginning of April, the 

 gi'ound is prepared, as I understood, in the following 

 manner : — A ridge of good decomposed manure is placed 

 on tho ground, a deep trench is cut out on each side of 

 this ridge, and tlic soil from tho trench is packed on each 

 gide of tho manure and also on the top. The manure is 



No. 345.— Vou xm.. New Serief. 



thus enclosed between two ridges of soil. Tlie banks when 

 ready for planting have the appearance of well-elevated 

 Asparagus- beds; the higher they are kept above the general 

 level of the ground tho better. 



The beds liaving been made as above described, the next 

 proceeding is to prepare tlie sets. For this purpose Mr. 

 Kelsall uses the long small roots which grow out from the 

 main plant ; the longest, straightest, and cleanest of these 

 are selected to form tlie future giant sticks of Horse- 

 radish, and are prepared in the following way : — Take the 

 piece of root in the left-hand, then with tho right rub off 

 .all the eyes and j'onng fibrous roots, leaving about a 

 quarter or half an inch undisturbed at the largest end of 

 each piece. 



Having prepared the sets as described, they are ready 

 for planting, and now comes what appeared to mo the most 

 curious part of this mode of cultivation. According to the 

 general practice the pieces to form the future sticks are 

 buried as deeply as possible in the ground : but Mr. Kel- 

 sall does quite the reverse, for his sets when placed in the 

 ground are not more than (i inches below the surface. In 

 planting, a piece of stick is pushed from the top edge of 

 the bed in a slanting direction towards the middle of the 

 bed ; the sets are then placed in the holes thus made, but 

 care is taken in performing this operation to place the 

 pieces of root iu the holes as straightly as possible. Care 

 must also be taken to place the smallest or right end in 

 tho hole first, otherwise the order of things becomes 

 reversed, and the root, or that portion of the piece in- 

 tended to produce the future roots, will occupy the position 

 of the crown. The piece of root should be pushed in about 

 ■2 inches further than the edge of the bed. This is all that 

 will be necessary to be done. 



The piece of root, or set, having been planted in tliis way. 

 it will soon commence forming roots at the base, and these 

 will at once search out the manure which has been placed 

 in the centre of tho bed. As soon as they have found it 

 tlie set will increase in size to an extraordinary extent, 

 and speedilj- a bud will break out from tho other end, 

 which formsthc crown of the plant. 'When leaves appear, 

 reciprocal action between the root and foliage is carried on 

 energetically, and the plant is then matured ^ritli great 

 rapidity. Scarcely a single root is formed between the 

 crown and the base of the rootstoek. Here there is a 

 cluster of roots which have found their way into the ma- 

 nure, and tlic straightest and best of these must bo saved 

 for making future plantations. The set docs not grow any 

 longer after being planted, but increases in thickness to a 

 wonderful extent, and, from the base to the crown, is wMte 

 and perfectly free from roots. 



The preceding is a simple and excellent mode of growing 

 Horseradisli. That Mr. Kelsall finds it very profitable 

 there can be no doubt, from the large quantity grown by 

 him in the neighbourhood of Manchester, where there are 

 beds of it by the acre. When specimens of Horseradish, 

 such as that which I scud for the Editors' inspection, reach 

 the kitchen, tho cook will have much more pleasure and 

 satisfaction in scraping off a portion of one of them than 

 she would from such sticks as we usually see, and which 

 No. iiT.-Voi- XJCXVQL, Old Seeks. 



