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LXXXIV. Account of the Cultivation of the Water Cress, as 

 practised by Mr. Wileiam Bradbery, at West Hyde, 

 near Rickmansworth, in Hertfordshire. In a Letter to the 

 Secretary. By Henry Bellenden Kee, Esq. F. R.S.#c. 



Read November 6, 1821. 



Dear Sir, 



I lately found that the Water Cress is grown in this 

 neighbourhood by Mr. Bradbery for the purpose of sup- 

 plying the London markets, and as I believe no account of 

 the mode of culture has been yet published, I have made 

 enquiries of Mr. Bradbery, who, with the greatest willing- 

 ness, furnished me with the information which I now send 

 to you. 



Mr. Bradbery first began to cultivate the Water Cress 

 in February, 1808, at Northfleet-Spring head, near Graves- 

 end ; for this purpose, he procured young plants, and 

 placed them, with a small proportion of the wet earth 

 in which they grew, in shallow running water ; the plants 

 soon formed large tufts, and rapidly spread over the wa- 

 ter; and he gathered the Cress regularly for the London 

 markets. 



Mr. Bradbery conceives that there are three sorts of 

 this vegetable ; the first he calls the Green-leaved, the second 

 the Small Broztm-leaved, and the third the Large Brown-leaved. 

 The three sorts he considers to be the same in taste, although 

 the large brown-leaved sort is, from its appearance, preferred 



