HORSE-RADISH. 91 



apart. To make it produce large-sized leaves abundantly, 

 the flower stems should be cut out as soon as they develop 

 themselves. It may be cut for three or four years. 



The common Yellow Dock, which is a somewhat trouble- 

 some weed, when treated in the same way also yields a 

 very wholesome substitute for spinach or greens. 



HORSE-RADISH. 



As the long, tapering roots of this vegetable are the 

 parts used, it is necessary, in order to have them in perfec- 

 tion, to follow such a course of cultivation as will most fully 

 develop them. To this end it is necessary that the soil 

 should be deep, rich and mellow. In a dry, gravelly soil, 

 or a soil that has a hard, clayey subsoil, it does not do 

 well. 



The old practice was to plant the crown of the roots in 

 the spring or autumn in a deeply-trenched soil, and cultivate 

 it two years before taking the crop. When grown from the 

 crowns they fork off into several small roots, which cannot 

 in a single season attain a proper size for use, and are 

 liable to be hollow and otherwise imperfect. The modern 

 mode of growing it is as follows : 



Early in the spring prepare a bed of any size deemed 

 necessary, by trenching a piece of rich soil two feet deep, 

 laying a good dressing of manure in the bottom of each 

 trench, digging it lightly into the bottom soil, but not mix- 

 ing it with the soil above, as this induces the growth of 

 numerous fibrous side roots. Line the bed out in rows two 

 feet apart, and plant root sets sixteen or eighteen inches 

 apart on the row. These sets should be sound, solid pieces 

 of the roots from three-eighths to half an inch in diameter, 

 cut from four to six inches long. With a dibble of suitable 



