AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



193 



HOP 



Hop Hornbeam. See Ostrya. 

 Hop Tree, flie popular name of Ptelia trifo- 

 liata. 



Ho'rdeum. Barlej'. According to Bodseus, the 

 name is derived from hordus, heavy ; because 

 the bread made from Barley is very heavy. 

 Nat. Ord. Graminaceoe. 



A genus of valuable, erect annual, rarely 

 perennial grasses, natives of Europe, temper- 

 ate Asia, northern Africa, and extra-tropical 

 America. The most useful of the species is 

 the common Barley, H. vulgare, a grain which 

 has been the longest in cultivation, and is 

 more genei-ally used than any other. The 

 Egyptians have a tradition that Barley was the 

 first grain made use of by man, and trace its 

 introduction to their goddess Isis. Pliny, in 

 his Natural History, speaks of its great 

 antiquity, but gives no account of its origin, 

 which is as little known as that of Wheat. Of 

 the kinds under cultivation, H. vulgare is the 

 common four-rowed, H. distichon, the two- 

 rowed, and H. hexastichon the Winter Barley, 

 which has six rows of grain, each row termi- 

 nating in a long beard. This is the species 

 most generally cultivated in this country. H. 

 jubatum, Squirrel-tail Grass, is a native species, 

 and is common on the shores of the great 

 lakes. It is often cultivated in collections of 

 ornamental grasses. 



Horehound. See Marrubium vulgare. 



Horke'lia. Named after J. Horkei, a German 

 botanist. Nat. Ord. Rosacece. 



Hardy herbaceous perennials, found in Cali- 

 fornia in 1826. They are desirable plants for 

 the garden, bearing white flowers, and having 

 finely cut foliage, like the Potentilla, to which 

 it is allied. Propagated by seeds or division. 



Hormi'num. From horminon, the Greek name. 

 Nat. Ord. Labiatm. 



H. pyrenaicum, the only species is an ele- 

 gant hardy, herbaceous perennial, with 

 bluish-purple flowers. It is of easy culture, 

 and is increased by seeds or divisions. 



Horn. Any appendage which is shaped some- 

 what like the horn of an animal, as the spur 

 of the petals in Linaria. 



Horn-beam. See Carpinus. 



Homed Poppy. See Glaucium. 



Horn of Plenty. The common name of Fedia 

 Comucopice. 



Horse Balm. See Collinsonia. 



Horse Chestnut. See ^sculus. 



Horse Mint. A common name for Monarda 

 punctata. 



Horse Nettle. A local name of Solanum Caro- 

 linense. 



Horseradish. Cochlearia armoracea. This 

 plant is a native of the marshy districts of 

 Great Britain, whence it was introduced into 

 our gardens at an early day, and from the 

 gardens it has escaped into moist, waste 

 places, in various parts of the country. The 

 generic name is derived from cochlear, a 

 spoon ; from the spoon-like, or concave leaves 

 of some of the species. As a condiment, the 

 Horseradish is in general use, and is con- 

 sidered stimulating to the digestive organs. 



This root is an important crop, upwards of 

 five hundred acres of it being grown in the 

 vicinity of New York alone, and for the last 



HOR 



twenty years there has been nothing grown 

 from which more profit as a second crop has 

 been realized. It is always grown as a second 

 crop in the following manner : 



In preparing the roots for market during 

 winter, all the small rootlets are broken off 

 and reserved for planting, leaving nothing 

 but the main root, which is usually from 

 twelve to fifteen inches long, and weighing 

 about three-quarters of a pound. The root- 

 lets, or sets, are cut into pieces of from four 

 to six inches in length, and from one-quarter 

 to one-half an inch in diameter ; these are tied 

 in bundles of from fifty to sixty, the top end 

 being cut square and the bottom end slant- 

 ing, so that in planting there will be no danger 

 of setting the root upside down ; for, although 

 it would grow if planted thus, it would not 

 make a handsome root. 



The sets, when prepared, are stowed away 

 in boxes of sand, care being taken that a 

 sufficiency of sand is put between each layer 

 of bundles to prevent their heating. They 

 may either be kept in the boxes in a cool 

 cellar, or pitted in the open ground, as may be 

 most convenient. 



Horseradish is always cultivated as a second 

 crop, and usually succeeds Early Cabbage, 

 Cauliflower or Beets. Thus we plant Early 

 Cabbage, lining out the ground with the one- 

 foot marker ; on every alternate line are first 

 planted the Cabbages, which stand, when 

 planted, at two feet between the rows, and 

 sixteen or eighteen inches between the plants. 

 We always finish our entire planting before 

 we put in the Horseradish, which delays it 

 generally to about 1st of May. It is then 

 planted between the rows of Cabbage, and at 

 about the same distance as the Cabbage is in 

 the rows, giving about 12,000 or 13,000 plants 

 per acre. 



The planting is performed by making a hole 

 about eight or ten inches deep with a long 

 planting stick or light crowbar, into which is 

 dropped the Horseradish set, so that its top 

 will be two or three inches under the surface ; 

 if the sets should be longer the hole should be 

 made proportionally deep, so that the top of 

 the set is not nearer the surface than two or 

 three inches ; the earth is pressed in alongside 

 the set, so as to fill up the hole, as in ordinary 

 planting. 



The main reason for planting the set so far 

 under the surface is to delay its coming up 

 until the crop of cabbage be cleared off. The 

 Horseradish makes its main growth in the 

 fall, so that it is no injui-y to it to keep it 

 from growing until July; in fact, it often 

 happens that by being planted too near the 

 surface, or too early, it starts to grow so as 

 to interfere with the Cabbage crop ; in such 

 cases, we have often to cut the tops off twice 

 Avith the hoe before the cabbage is ready, but 

 this does not injure it in the least. 



It is a crop with which there is very little 

 labor during summer ; after the Cabbage has 

 been cut off, the Horseradish is allowed to 

 grow at will, and as it quickly covers the 

 ground, one good deep stirring by hoe or culti- 

 vator is all that is required after digging out 

 the Cabbage stumps. 



When grown between Early Beets the cul- 

 ture is, in all respects, the same, only it is 

 more profitable to have the rows of Beets only 

 eighteen inches apart ; this, of course, throws 



