638 RADICACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



are delicately acrid, the second more powerfully so, and the last strong 

 and coarsely pungent. 



Spring and Summer Radishes. Scarlet, Short-topped Scarlet, Semi- 

 long Scarlet, Wood's Short-top Scarlet, and the Paris little pink break- 

 fast radish. 



Turnip Radishes. White turnip and Rose-coloured turnip. 



Autumn Radishes. White Eussian, Yellow turnip, and Round brown. 

 These three used to be grown for autumn use ; now the best spring or 

 summer varieties are mostly grown in autumn as well. The China 

 rose is, however, a fine autumn radish. 



Winter Radishes. White Spanish and Black Spanish are the hardiest 

 of the winter radishes ; the best for a cottage garden. 



The soil for all the kinds should be light, rich, and well pulverized 

 to at least eighteen inches in depth, and the situation for an early 

 crop sheltered and exposed to the sun. The seed should be sown in 

 January and February for a crop to be drawn in March and April, 

 and covered with mats, straw, or fern, nightly and during great part 

 of the day in snowy or very cold windy weather. The seeds should 

 be scattered so thin as not to come up thicker than one and a half 

 inches or two inches apart. For a bed four feet six inches by twelve 

 feet, two ounces of seed will be required, It will come up in eight or 

 ten days. Successional sowings may be made every ten days or 

 fortnight, till the end of May ; afterwards the autumn radishes may 

 be sown till the end of July; and the- winter radishes may be sown 

 from the beginning of July till the end of August. The autumn and 

 winter radishes are most conveniently cultivated in rows, and as they 

 are allowed to attain a considerable size before being used, the distance 

 between the rows may be nine inches or a foot, and the distance in the 

 row six inches. The winter radishes come into use in October, and 

 being very hardy, may either be left in the open ground through the 

 winter, which is the practice in Russia where the ground is covered 

 with snow, and taken up as wanted ; or stored up in ridges or cellars 

 in the manner of turnips or carrots. The tender green seed-pods used 

 in pickling are taken from plants of the early sorts that have been 

 allowed to run to seed for that purpose in July and August. The 

 early radishes are so short a time on the ground that they are seldom 

 troubled with insects ; but in the case of seed-bearing plants, the 

 sparrows are very fond of the newly-formed seeds. In saving seed 

 only one kind ought to be grown in the same garden at the same time. 

 The seed will keep two years. A few years since an extraordinary 

 sensation was created by the introduction of a new radish which grew 

 up into a large bush and produced pods nearly a yard long. This 

 vegetable wonder is called the Raphanus caudatus, or Rat-tailed radish, 

 and the pods, which are mild and crisp when young, are eaten instead 

 of the root. It is curious as well as useful, and a few should be grown 

 either in pots in a house, or in a warm sheltered corner out of doors. 



For forcing the radish the details have already been given at 

 length. 



