KITCHEX-GARDEN PLANTS. CHAP. 



may be raised. Some people like them, and the trouble 

 is a great deal less than any one would imagine, seeing 

 that it requires so many words to explain the method of 

 doing the thing. Now, as to the sorts of radishes for the 

 hot-bed, there are two, the early scarlet, and the early 

 short-top : the colour of the former is indicated by its 

 name, that of the latter is between a red and a purple. 

 Some tastes prefer one sort, and some the other. I know 

 no difference in the flavour : the scarlet is the most pleas- 

 ing to the eye, and is, therefore, the sort that market- 

 gardeners cultivate j but the short- top is the earliest ; 

 that is to say, the quickest in coming to perfection j or, 

 at least, I think so ; for I never actually tried one against 

 the other j 'and they certainly eat more crisp than the 

 scarlet. The finest radish of all for the flavour, as well 

 as for crispness, is called the salmon-radish, from its 

 colour being precisely that of salmon when in season j 

 but it does not come so quickly as the other two sorts. 

 If you have the early radishes in beds, the salmon-radish 

 ought to be the first to sow in the open ground. With 

 regard to the turnip-rooted sorts, they are all greatly in- 

 ferior, in point of flavour, to the tap-rooted ; and, as to 

 the black Spanish radish, it is a coarse thing that will 

 stand the winter about as well as a turnip ; and is very 

 little superior to a turnip in point of flavour. It is called 

 a radish, and may be had with hardly any trouble even 

 in the winter time j but it is, in fact, not fit to eat. In 

 all sowings of radishes, the greatest care must be taken 

 to keep away the birds, until the radishes be fairly up, 

 and even begin to show rough leaf j for, they are ex- 

 tremely fond of these seeds, and they are sowed at a season 

 of the year when bird-food is scarce. The sparrows will 



