Account of Autumn and Winter Radishes. 11 



Gerard,* were acquainted with only one of the sorts of 

 Winter Radish which were cultivated in the Society's Garden 

 last season ; it is called, in the work referred to, Raphanus 

 piriformis sive r a dice nigro, or the Black or Pear- fashion 

 Radish, and is certainly the same as our Black Spanish Ra- 

 dish. The figure given of it by Gerard represents the root as 

 it appears before it acquires the size at which it is fit for use. 

 Miller, in the eighth edition of his Dictionary (176'8), de- 

 scribes the Raphanus niger, or Black Spanish Radish, as used 

 in winter ; and almost every modern book on Horticulture 

 also notices it. 



Another sort, the White Spanish Radish, is slightly men- 

 tioned in a few Gardening books of recent date ; but it seems 

 to be little used, for the Society received only one packet of 

 it amongst the collections of Radish seed from the British 

 seedsmen, and that was supplied by Mr. Lee of Hammer- 

 smith, who received it from a foreign correspondent, by 

 whom it was obtained from Augsbourg. Miller, in the 

 edition of his Dictionary above referred to, calls it the Ra- 

 phanus orbiculatus, or White Spanish Radish. The sort is 

 noticed more particularly by Justice, in the British Gar- 

 dener's Director, published at Edinburgh in 1764 ; he 

 states that the White Spanish Radish is eaten in November, 

 and the Black in Winter. Miller says that both kinds are 

 principally used for medicinal purposes, but that some per- 

 sons like them for the table. 1 have not been able to ascer- 

 tain how, or from what cause, they acquired the name of 

 Spanish Radishes. 



The seeds of these two sorts, as well as of the others which 



* Gerard's Herbal by Johnson, page 238. 



