494 Cultivation of Horse-Radish. 



only three-quarters to one inch of earth, while the lower lies 

 three or four inches deep. As a consequence of this slanting 

 position, the new roots thrown out from the lower end of the cut- 

 ting strike vertically downward, making nearly a right angle 

 with the main stem, and it is from these slender roots that 

 the new cuttings for the next season's planting are made. 

 During the summer the ground is kept free from weeds 

 and the surface of the soil lightly stirred. Towards the 

 end of June the bed is gone over carefully and each cutting 

 uncovered separately and slightly raised out of the soil with 

 the hand. Care is taken not to injure the perpendicular 

 roots which have formed from its lower end. All small 

 rootlets are rubbed off from the body of the root with a 

 woollen cloth, those that are too large to be removed in this . 

 manner being cut close with a sharp knife. A small quantity 

 of powdered charcoal is scattered over the cut surfaces to 

 prevent decay, and the cutting is again covered with 

 earth as before. In order to keep the new roots of a uniform 

 diameter, and to prevent their striking deep into the soil and 

 becoming too slender, the beds are sometimes underlaid with, 

 a porous cement pavement, a foot and a half below the 

 surface of the ground. This pavement checks the growth of 

 the young roots and causes them to thicken. 



The roots are allowed to continue their growth until the- 

 end of September, when the harvest begins. The cuttings 

 which have been two seasons in the ground, first as 

 vertical roots and afterwards in the oblique position, are by 

 this time large enough for market. In digging the horse- 

 radish, a long-bladed mattock or spade is used ; this enables 

 the digger to remove not only the obliquely planted cutting, 

 which is the marketable product, but also the new roots from 

 its lower end, of which the cuttings for the fnext year are to 

 be made. The radishes are sent to market in neat bundles of 

 several dozen. The uniformity in length and diameter is 

 remarkable, the average thickness being about i\ inches at 

 the large end and i \ inches at the other. Restaurants keep 

 their supplies of horse-radish quite fresh for several months by 

 planting the roots in cool cellars in moist sand, and the 

 cuttings, held over for the spring planting, are kept in the 

 same way. 



