dt Jat. 19) GARDEN MAGAZINE 
26 FEBRUARY, 1916 
CHART SHOWING HOW RADISHES ARE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO SHAPE Strasburg is of long shape—almost like 
(Key to the valuation of the different types) a parsnip root; White Stuttgart is of 
elongated globe or even cylindrical 
ie form, depending upon soil conditions. 
Both sorts have firm flesh of mild flavor 
Globe Shape 
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* Obsolete + Superfluous + Too much alike to be grown at the same time 
makes it difficult for the private planter 
to really find what he wants or needs. 
Therefore I present a chart offering a 
simple analysis. Notwithstanding the 
fact that hundreds of varieties of rad- 
ishes are offered, they may be reduced 
to thirty or forty dependable standards. 
Even among them, we find a certain 
amount of duplication in type, enough 
to cause our editor to tell me not to 
forget “the too-much alike” varieties. 
So I have applied the “knife” and cut 
down the list until (in table No. 2) we 
Meee. : | 
Scarlet Olive Seu on left, is typical form. Half 
long type shown on right 
have the rock bottom of dependability 
in early radishes, together with a cer- 
tain record of “behavior” of the dif- 
ferent sorts. 
Allowances must be made regarding 
the time of maturity for weather and 
soil conditions play a strong part in the 
development of radishes regardless of 
the variety itself. For instance, Bur- 
pee’s Rapid Red, the most thorough- 
bred of all extra early red Globe Shaped 
radishes, ordinarily produces roots of 
one-half to three-fourths inch in diam- 
eter in eighteen to twenty-one days 
from date of planting. BUT—/if, after 
two weeks of good growth in best of 
soil, under most careful cultivation, the 
temperature goes down to 45° and stays 
there for a week each day and night 
(as it did last spring), blame neither 
seed, variety nor the soil if it does not 
live up to its record. 
The tables supplied are concentrated 
on spring and mid-season radishes, 
since these are easily the most impor- 
tant to 90 per cent. of all planters. No 
attention whatever has been paid to the 
innumerable so-called forcing strains 
of radishes since my experience is that 
they are of no use in the open garden. 
Many years of practical experience 
teaches me that it is wrong to offer 
them in a retail catalogue since they 
create anticipations that are rarely ever 
fulfilled. 
Personally, I am satisfied with a list 
of sorts which closes the season in 
August or early September when Long 
White Vienna, or Lady Finger, and 
Chartiers should be at their best, from 
seeds sown early in July. People who 
want the crop throughout fall and win- 
ter must look for larger, later sorts, 
with flesh of firmer texture and of bet- 
ter keeping qualities. 
White Strasburg and White Stuttgart 
are admirable summer varieties. White 
Ve 
down” process. 
until they are long overgrown. White 
Stuttgart gets larger than Strasburg. 
In connection with the winter sorts, 
‘we have to resort again to the “sifting 
There are round, half- 
long, and long sorts of white, black, red 
and yellow color. As before, eliminate 
the yellow-skinned varieties. They are 
obsolete and any claims made for them 
cannot be substantiated under wide and 
varying conditions of soil and climate. 
Round Black Spanish and Round 
Scarlet China stand well to the front in 
merit, while California Mammoth Win- 
ter gives splendid satisfaction as a 
large, oblong sort. Long Black Spanish 
may be considered the standard long 
winter radish of two continents. 
A few suggestions as to a “schedule” 
for growing radishes and a few hints 
how to grow them may not go amiss for 
beginners among the readers of THE 
GARDEN MAGAZINE. 
For a steady supply sow any of the 
sorts mentioned in the table, starting 
with two 15 ft. rows as soon as the 
ground is fit to be worked. Supplement 
this initial supply by repeated sowings 
of 15 ft. rows one week apart until May 
30th, when the small spring sorts 
should be discarded in favor of Char- 
tiers and Lady Finger. Icicle will also 
do well during the early part of the 
summer, but I would not sow it after 
June 15th. At the end of June or begin- 
ning of July sow the winter varieties. 
These make very large and hardy plants 
which will keep on growing until the 
first frosts nip the foliage, when they 
should be dug or pulled and stored in 
sand or soil in a frost-proof cellar. 
oy) Be 
Rapid Red (left) and French Breakfast See) typify 
the Globe Shaped and Olive Shaped respectively 
