6io 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Forcing, Summer or Autumn, and Winter Radishes, the mode of 

 culture which is suitable for each of these divisions being very 

 different from that which should be employed for the others. 



I. Small, or Forcing-, Radishes 



These Radishes are sown in the open air from February to 

 November, usually broadcast in beds, and the seedlings are thinned 

 out so as to allow the plants to grow evenly. The beds should be 

 kept free from weeds, and frequently watered in hot dry weather. 

 In about from sixteen to eighteen days, if the weather is favour- 

 able, and from twenty to twenty-five days if otherwise, the earliest 

 plants will be fit for use. As for the rest, it may be four, five, or 

 six weeks, according to the weather, before they are fit to be pulled. 

 In spring, or late in autumn, the seed should be sown in a warm 

 sheltered position ; in summer a cool shady place is preferable. 

 Sowings should be made in succession every fortnight or ten days, 

 in order to keep up a supply of young tender Radishes. In Decem- 

 ber, January, and February, the seed is sown on hot-beds under 

 frames or bell-glasses. The market-gardeners of Paris grow 

 Radishes in the depth of winter on hot-beds covered with leaf- 

 mould or compost, without any protection except that of straw mats, 

 which are placed over them at night and in frosty weather, and are 

 taken off whenever the weather is not too severe. These Radishes 

 are usually fit to be pulled in from five to six weeks after sowing. 



A. ROUND, OR TURNIP-ROOTED, RADISHES 



Scarlet Turnip Radish. Root nearly spherical, slightly top- 

 shaped when very young ; skin somewhat 

 vinous red ; flesh white, slightly tinged 

 with pink ; leaves rounded, cut 'at the 

 edges, and of a somewhat glaucous green 

 colour ; leaf-stalks faintly bronzed. In 

 fine weather, as in May, this Radish is 

 fit for use in about twenty-five days after 

 sowing. It is hardy, does not become 

 hollow at the centre too quickly, and 

 grows well in ordinary garden soil. 



Early Scarlet Turnip Radish. Root 

 i more flattened than that of the preceding 

 \ kind, well rounded underneath, having 

 A only a very slender, small tap-root, and 

 resembling the ordinary Scarlet Turnip 

 Radish in the colour of the skin ; flesh 

 very white; leaves short and close growing. 



Scarlet Turnip Radish J his V f iet y is fit for USe in ab Ut twen ^ 



a natural size). days after sowing, and can be grown in 



