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LXXXIV. Account and Description of the Varieties (/Spring 

 Radish. By Mr. Charles Strachan, Gardener to the 

 Horticultural Society. 



Read July 6, 1819. 



Th e Garden Committee, in prosecution of their plan of as- 

 certaining distinctly the different sorts of each vegetable 

 in cultivation, having directed that seeds of all the kinds of 

 Radishes should be sown in this season, in the garden of the 

 Society, I have now the honour of stating the result of this 

 experiment, as far as respects the Spring Radishes. 



The Radish, Raphanus sativus of Linneus, is supposed to 

 be a native of China, but has long been cultivated in our gar- 

 dens, for the sake of its roots, which are eaten raw, before 

 the plant, which is an annual, shoots into flower ; when the 

 roots grow large, even before they throw up the flowering 

 stem, they become hollow, and lose their goodness ; they 

 are therefore solely used when in a young state, and the 

 matured plant is only kept for seed, and for supplying a few 

 of the green seed pods for pickles. 



Besides the kinds which I am about to treat of, there are 

 others, which are usually denominated autumn or winter Ra- 

 dishes, from coming into use in those seasons ; these are very 

 distinct from the Radishes which are cultivated for spring use, 

 to which alone it is proposed to confine my present observa- 

 tions, reserving the notice of the others for a future occasion. 



The Spring Radishes are of two kinds, those with spindle- 

 shaped roots, or the Long-rooted Radishes, and those with 



