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XIV. On the Cultivation of the Horse Radish, as practised in 

 Denmark and Germany. In a Letter to the Secretary. By 

 Mr. Jens Peter Petersen. 



Read November 6, 1827. 



Sir, 



The Horse Radish delights in a good rich and moist loam, and 

 rather a shaded situation. The ground must be trenched and ma- 

 nured the year before planting. In the autumn when the old roots 

 are taken out of the ground, select all the small side roots from 

 nine to twelve inches in length, and as thick as a quill or there- 

 abouts ; tie them in bunches, and preserve them in sand in a place 

 protected from the frost during the winter. The planting is com- 

 menced in the beginning or middle of April. In dry weather divide 

 the ground into beds four feet wide ; (some make them only three 

 feet wide). These beds are with me raised a little with the mould 

 out of the alleys, so that they are about a couple of inches higher 

 in the middle than on the sides next the alleys. With a woollen 

 cloth rub off all the lateral fibres from the roots above described ; 

 and also pare off each extremity so that the wounds may be fresh, 

 then plant them by inserting them horizontally into the sides of 

 the elevated beds, about a foot apart, and in a quincuncial manner, 

 so that the bottom part of the root is about six or seven inches 

 below the surface, and the top or crown end of the root stands a 

 little out of the side of the bed, remarking that the roots are to be 

 inclined a little, so that their lower extremity is rather deeper than 

 their upper. 



In the latter end of June or sometime in July, take and cut off 

 with a sharp knife all the lateral fibres of each root which is done 



