102 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
be eaten without washing it. We only grow White Mustard 
during winter, and of course regulate the sowing by the pro- 
bable demand, which for our small household is rather heavy 
and constant. 
Watercress is not usually regarded as a plant that an 
amateur can grow advantageously, but the real truth is that 
if only one edible plant could be grown for home use, it 
should be the watercress, provided of course that the water- 
cress is required, and that whatever else is wanted can be 
conveniently purchased. It is not necessary to enlarge on 
the risks incurred in the consumption of watercresses that 
are obtained in the usual way ; nor if we send to the beds for 
them are we safe, for the natural waters everywhere are more 
or less polluted, and the watercress is more than any other 
edible plant exposed to agencies detrimental to its wholesome- 
ness. When you grow your own cresses you know what they 
are made of, provided of course you do not gather from a 
stream that comes from you know not where. 
For a nice supply of cresses in winter make up a frame 
with a bed of very rich loam, with which, if possible, mix 
some broken chalk or lime rubbish — say light turfy loam 
three parts, and fat manure, and lime rubbish or plaster, of 
the size of walnuts, one part each ; the bed to be one foot 
deep of this mixture. In August or September sow seed 
very thinly and keep the frame close shut, and when the 
plant appears give air, and indeed keep the light off al- 
together, except when it is really needed for protection. 
Give water freely, but do not burden your mind with the 
idea that watercress should swim, for you will be able to 
gather most delicate cresses with only a moderate amount of 
watering, and the supply will last far into the winter. To 
keep up a succession, make up a smallish hotbed and on that 
sow again, and thus you will carry on the supply far into the 
spring, and then you will be enabled to gather from pots and 
pans, for these come in to help in a most important manner 
in the garden culture of watercresses. 
Pan-culture. — Cresses may be grown in pots or pans of 
any size, but the size that has proved the best in our practice 
is fifteen inches wide and nine inches deep. Every pan has 
perforations at the bottom, and is fitted with a larger pan to 
hold water, as shown in the accompanying figures. If it be 
asked whether a running stream is required, the answer is that 
