RADISHES 



609 



be stringy and ill-flavoured. Small 

 sowings in quick succession are, 

 therefore, preferable to large ones 

 made at long intervals apart. 



Culture for Market. — In the 

 London market-gardens, the first 

 two crops of Radishes of the year 

 are generally grown amongst fruit- 

 trees, if bush fruits or Roses do not 

 occupy the ground. By sowing 

 time, which is in November and 

 December, the trees are leafless and 

 pruned ; therefore they do not offer 

 much shade to the young Radish- 

 plants, but rather protect them 

 from cold winds and severe frosts, 

 and before the trees have made much 

 growth in spring the Radishes are 

 fit for market, and the ground when 

 ■cleared of them is available for being 

 planted with Lettuces or other 

 plants that are best suited for a 

 shady situation. Crops of Radishes 

 to succeed those under fruit-trees 

 are sown in open quarters, in 6 -ft. 

 wide beds with alleys between them. 

 After sowing, the seed is raked in 

 with wooden rakes, and afterwards 

 slightly covered with fine soil taken 

 from the alleys. The surface of the 

 bed is then rolled and, in the case 

 of early sowings, shghtly covered 

 with long litter, which after the 

 ■seeds have germinated is removed 

 on every favourable opportunity, 

 but immediately replaced on the 

 appearance of frosty, snowy, or 

 5tormy weather. After the second 

 week in February coverings are 

 dispensed with if the weather is at 

 all likely to continue mild for a time, 

 as the plants have by this time 

 become strong and better able to 

 -stand the cold. The litter is, how- 

 ever, kept in the alleys in case of 

 emergency until all danger from 



frost is over, when it is removed 

 entirely and converted into manure. 

 Successional sowings are made in 

 February, March, and April, in a 

 manner similar to that just described, 

 and in some cases during the sum- 

 mer. But, except in moist situations, 

 Radishes do not succeed well in 

 hot weather ; therefore, where such 

 situations do not exist, sowing ceases 

 in spring, and recommences in 

 August and September, if the weather 

 be at all showery. A good crop of 

 Radishes during the summer is pro- 

 fitable, and especially so in dry 

 seasons. The ground chosen for 

 them is usually that recently cleared 

 of Celery, French Beans, Rhubarb, 

 or Vegetable Marrows, which, after 

 being deeply dug and heavily 

 manured, is levelled and otherwise 

 prepared to receive the seed. Some- 

 times Radishes are sown between 

 Asparagus ridges, and in such posi- 

 tions they succeed remarkably well 

 on account of the soil being deep 

 and rich. When Radishes are re- 

 quired earlier in the spring than 

 they can be gathered from the 

 December outdoor sowing, they are 

 obtained from frames placed on hot- 

 beds, or trenches are dug out and 

 filled with manure, on which a little 

 soil is placed, and after sowing, the 

 beds are covered over with litter. 

 In March the first outdoor crops are 

 usually ready for market. Birds 

 are the worst enemies with which 

 the Radish grower has to contend, 

 and when large quantities are grown 

 it is found necessary to employ boys 

 to scare them away, otherwise they 

 would devour all the seed, and even 

 pull up the young plants in order to 

 obtain the husks which adhere to 

 the young leaves. 



USES. — The roots are eaten raw. 



The varieties of Radishes are very numerous, and we shall 

 divide them, according to their period of culture, into Small or 



39 



