Hints on Vegetable and Fruit-Farming. 15 



heavily manured. Those planted in May and June might come 

 after coleworts or spring cabbage. 



Radishes are much cultivated by market-gardeners. The 

 turnip-radishes, of which the best kind is the French Breakfast 

 radish, are sown broadcast upon beds five feet wide, with a space 

 between each, either in the late autumn or in the early spring. 

 In the former case the plants must be lightly covered with litter. 

 Spring radishes are only a short time on the ground, and would 

 come off together with autumn-sown radishes in time for 

 lettuces, French beans, or marrows. They are sent to London 

 in bunches, each containing a large handful, and are sold at 

 from ^d. to 8^/. per dozen bunches. There is a great demand 

 for well-grown PZnglish radishes throughout the spring and 

 early summer, especially after the season of those imported 

 from France is over. It is not suggested that radishes should 

 be universally grown. They may, however, occasionally be 

 taken as a crop by farmers who have land of fine tilth particu- 

 larly adapted for market-garden culture, and they are just one 

 of the subjects for cultivation in the home garden. 



French Beans and Scarlet Runners are grown exten- 

 sively upon market-garden farms in Essex and Surrey. Both 

 these are delicate plants, and require a fine tilth. The land is 

 ploughed twice, manure not being directly applied. The seed 

 is dropped by hand in drills made with a hand-plough. French 

 beans are set 2^ feet apart, and 8 inches or 9 inches in the drill. 

 Scarlet-runner rows are put 3 feet apart, and the seeds are dropped 

 into these about a foot distant. These are very delicate plants, 

 and are cut up by the least frost, and, when the plants are young, 

 are injured by excessive wet. Slugs do great harm to them. 

 Stakes are not put to scarlet runners in the field. Their habit 

 is dwarfed, and made upright by cutting off the tops of the 

 shoots. It should be borne in mind that French beans have 

 not much chance of ready sale when there are plenty of scarlet 

 runners ready. 



Celery is most profitable in soils and situations that suit its 

 growth. Well-grown, well-blanched, short-eating celery is 

 always a most saleable commodity. The cultivation requires 

 much care and involves considerable expense, and is perhaps, 

 as it may be thought, more suited for market-gardeners than for 

 farmers, but there is no reason why it should not be more largely 

 grown in farm gardens and for market purposes. There are 

 market- gardeners near London who grow as many as 50 acres 

 of celery. The seed should be sown first in frames with a litire 

 heat, towards the end of February, from whence the plants are 

 put out into rows 5 feet apart, with a few inches between each 

 plant. Quantities of well-rotted manure must be put on before 



