AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



269 



Radish continued. 



are transparent, and the third and fourth veins in each 

 converge slightly. The female differs from the male in 

 the broader body, and the ash-grey colour ; the stripes 

 on the thorax are faint-coloured, and there is only a 

 slender, dark line down the middle of the abdomen. 

 The larvaB have neither head nor limbs, but are blunt 

 behind, and taper to a point in front. They are yellowish, 

 fleshy, and wrinkled. On the blunt hinder end are 

 several fleshy lobes, and breathing-pores in two groups 

 of three each. The larvae eat into the roots, and cause 

 them to rot. When full-fed, they leave the roots, and 

 change, in the soil, into dull ochreous pupae of the form 



FIG. 347. CHINA ROSE RADISH. 



usually met with in Diptera. The larra of Antliomyia 

 floccosa, Macq. (? A. floralis, Fall.), also feed in the roots 

 of Eadishes, Cabbages, and allied plants, as do likewise 

 the larva of A. Brassicce (see Cabbage Ply) and of 

 A. (Homalomyia) canicularis ; and those of A. Raphani 

 feed on Eadishes in North America. All of these insects 

 are very like the Eadish Fly, and it is unnecessary to 

 describe them, since the habits of all are much the 

 same in all stages. The larvae have been found in large 

 numbers feeding in dung, and the insects have been 

 reared from this. It has also been observed that when 

 ground is manured with farmyard dung, the root-crops 

 are apt to suffer from the attacks of larvae of these 

 flies. 



Remedies. The most effectual seems to be crude car- 

 bolic acid, in solution. Successful results have followed 

 its use, in the strength of half a pint of acid mixed with 

 one gallon of boiling water, to which about a quart of 

 soft soap has been added. This should be diluted with 

 fifty gallons of water ; or it may be used even in a weaker 

 solution. The plants should be watered with this fluid 

 every week, after they appear above ground. Instead of 

 this, much-diluted gas-water may be used ; or gas-lime 

 may be sprinkled along the rows. Farmyard manure is 

 not safe, if there are maggots in it; mineral manures 

 may be substituted in their stead. 



Eadish leaves are occasionally eaten by larvae of 

 the White Butterflies (Cabbage Caterpillars), and of 

 various Moths (Mamestra, Plusia, Potherb Moths), 

 as well as by the Turnip Flea (Phyllotreta nemorum), 

 and by other small beetles allied to it. The seeds are 

 destroyed in the fruits by larvae of Ceuthorhynchus 



Radish continued. 



assimilis (Turnip-seed Weevil), which is closely allied 

 to the Weevils that make galls on roots of Cabbage, 

 Turnip, Charlock, and Wild Mustard. For the .nature' 

 of the injuries in each case, and for the appropriate 

 remedies, see the heading quoted for each. 



SORTS. Of these there are many in commerce which 

 may be classed as Long-rooted and Turnip-rooted varie- 

 ties. There are also intermediate globular forms, and 

 these are much esteemed. The following varieties are 

 amongst the best: 



BLACK SPANISH, an excellent hardy sort for autumn and winter use. 

 CHINA ROSE, root oblong or somewhat conical, bright rose- 

 coloured ; also a fine variety for autumn and winter (see Fig. 347). 

 EARLY FRAME (Wood's), one of the earliest, shorter than the LONG 

 SCARLET, of which it is a sub-variety ; nne for forcing. EARLY 

 ROSE GLOBE, a very early and much-esteemed sort, of a fine, 



FIG. 348. EARLY ROSE CJLOBE RADISH. 



clear rosy-scarlet, compact (see Fig. 348). FRENCH BREAKFAST, 

 a beautiful olive-shaped variety, with white tip, of quick growth, 

 and very mild flavour ; one of the best for forcing and summer 

 use. LONG SCARLET, SHORT-TOP, one of the best and most 

 esteemed long varieties, because of its bright colour ; much cul- 

 tivated for market. OLIVE SCARLET, an excellent sort, of quick 

 growth and fine colour. RED TURNIP-ROOTED, crisp, and of mild 

 flavour ; very extensively grown for market, and well adapted for 

 general summer use, because it withstands dry weather. WHITE 

 TURNIP-ROOTED has a white skin, but otherwise differs very 

 little from the red variety ; it is equally good, but the colour of 

 the latter is generally preferred. 



RADIUS, RAY. The circumference of the circle 

 formed by umbels or heads, or of other such parts. 



RADIX. The root ; the descending axis ; that part 

 which is the development of a radicle. It differs from 

 a stem, not only in its origin, but in not branching 

 symmetrically, and in having no normal leaf-buds. 



RAFFIA OR ROFFIA PLANT. See Raphia 

 Rnffia and R. trecligera. 



RAFNIA (named in honour of C. G. Eafn, a Danish 

 botanist, who wrote a Flora of Denmark, in 1796). 

 OBD. Leguminosoe. A genus comprising twenty-two 

 species of glabrous, and often glaucous, greenhouse 

 s-hrubs or sub-shrubs, confined to South Africa. Flowers 

 yellow, solitary or shortly racemose, terminal ^or in the 

 axils of bracts ; calyx unequally five-cleft, the lowest seg- 

 ment narrowest ; corolla glabrous ; standard roundish ; 

 keel incurved, rostrate or obliquely truncate. Pods 

 linear or lanceolate. Leaves simple, entire, one-nerved 

 or reticulate-veined. The species, a selection of which 

 is given below, thrive in a compost of fibry loam and 

 sandy peat, with the addition of pieces of charcoal and 

 broken pots, to keep the whole rough. Attention to 

 drainage is an important point. Propagation may be 

 effected, at the beginning of summer, by cuttings of firm 

 side shoots, inserted in sand, and covered with a bell 

 glass ; or, in spring, by seeds, sown on a hotbed. 

 B. angnlata (angular-branched), ft., upper and lateral calyx 



lobes nearly as long as the calyx tube or somewhat longer; 



flowering branchlets forked. May. I. |in. to IJin long, oblong- 



