78 GARDENING FOR YOUNG AND OLD. 



best variety for salad is the "White Mustard. As 

 a field crop this deserves attention; our climate is well 

 adapted to its cultivation. As a crop for plowing under 

 to enrich sandy soil, or to lighten and mellow a heavy 

 one, White Mustard could often be used with special 

 advantage. It can also be profitably grown for feeding 

 to sheep on the land, or for feeding green to cows, pigs, 

 and horses. A great crop can be grown for this purpose 

 on good, mellow land; but unless the land is mellow, it 

 is of no use to try it in our dry, hot climate. It may be 

 sown as late as the first of July, and still give a large crop 

 in September and October. It must be eaten before 

 frost. After a severe frost, it is only fit for plowing un- 

 der for a manure. 



The better way is to sow about twenty pounds of seed 

 per acre, in rows twenty-one inches apart, or far enough 

 to admit the use of a horse-hoe. As soon as the plants 

 appear, run the cultivator between the rows, and con- 

 tinue to cultivate at intervals, until the plants are fairly 

 started. They grow slowly at first, but if the land is in 

 good condition, when they are once started, they grow 

 with great rapidity and will smother the weeds and leave 

 the land remarkably clean. 



NASTURTIUM. TROP^OLUM. 



In our dry, hot climate, the Nasturtium or Indian 

 Cress, can be grown with great ease and certainty. As the 

 plants are very tender, the slightest frost injuring them, 

 they should have a warm, dry soil, moderately rich, and 

 kept free from weeds. There are two varieties usually 

 grown, one of which is a climber, and will run up on a 

 pole or trellis for eight or ten feet. The other is a dwarf 

 variety, growing from one to two feet high. The latter 

 may be allowed to trail on the ground, or be furnished 



