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CRESS. 
CRESS. 
Cresson. Lepidium sativum . 
VARIETIES. 
Curled, or Peppergrass. I Broad-leaved Garden. 
Cress is a small salad herb, and is generally used with 
Lettuce, White Mustard, Rape, Chervil, &c. It may be 
sown very thick in little drills, as should salad seed in gene- 
ral, and cut before it comes into rough leaf. A small quan- 
tity in the salad season, which is spring and autumn, may be 
sown every week in rich ground, free from weeds. 
CRESS, (Water.) 
Cresson de fontaine. Sisymbrium nasturtium. 
The Water Cress is a creeping, amphibious perennial, and 
is grown very extensively for the London Markets. Loudon 
says, in his Encyclopedia of Gardening, that “ The most 
suitable description of water is a clear stream, not more than 
an inch and a half deep, running over sand or gravel ; the 
least favourable, deep, still water, or a muddy bottom. It is 
highly advantageous to make the plantations in newly-risen 
spring water, as the plants do not only thrive better in it, but, 
m consequence of its being rarely frozen, they generally con 
tinue in vegetation, and in a good state for gathering, through 
the whole winter season. The plants are disposed in rows 
parallel with the course of the stream, about eighteen inches 
apart. When these plants begin to grow in water one inch 
and a half deep, they soon check the current so as to raise 
the water to the height of three inches above the plants, 
which is considered the most favourable circumstance in 
which they can be placed. It is absolutely necessary to have 
a constant curient, as where there is any obstruction to the 
stream, the plants cease to thrive. After they have been cut 
about three times, they begin to stock, and then the oftenei 
they are cut the better. 
