456 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 19, 1892. 
THE VEGETABLE BARDEN 
Veitch's Extra Early Forcing Radish. 
Few things in the way of Salading materials are 
more appreciated at the Breakfast table than a dish 
of nice, young, fresh Radishes, and especially early in 
the year. In most garden establishments of any 
pretensions, as soon as the new year comes in, then 
begins the demand for forced vegetables, and to 
obtain Radishes thus early is no great task, especially 
when there are pits heated with hot water available. 
Failing these they can almost as readily be obtained 
by the aid of frames on ordinary hot-beds. The 
demand we have to supply for young Radishes and 
early Carrots is very great, and we have to supply 
Extra Early Forcing Radish. 
them as long as possible. Early in January we fill 
up a brick pit with fresh leaves and stable litter, and 
as soon as these have settled down we put on 6in. of 
soil, and when it has become warmed through, we 
make a sowing of Parisian Forcing Carrot, a variety 
which grows almost round, mixing with it some seeds 
of the Extra Early Forcing Radish. This year the 
seeds were sown on January 21st., and in alittle more 
than five weeks we began to draw Radishes quite large 
in haste have had to repent of their actions at 
leisure. Not only is double labour in resowing in 
some instances necessary, but too often the crops 
are behind time in being ready for use. Where a 
full and constant supply of culinary produce is in 
demand, extra early sowings are sometimes risked, 
but these should only be on as small a scale as pos¬ 
sible, in order only to tide over a short period of 
probable scarcity. 
Referring to Celery, for instance, not required be¬ 
fore October, handsome sticks of crisp and solid pro¬ 
duce, with an almost entire absence of " bolters," 
may be easily secured, although the seed is not sown 
till the 1st of April and planted out about the end 
of J une. Sowings made a few weeks earlier in strong 
artificial heat require much more careful manage¬ 
ment in the matter of supplying the seedlings with 
water regularly and gradually turning them to a cool 
temperature preparatory to final transplanting. 
There are no surer methods of producing a crop of 
seed than the neglect of these items. Checks from 
planting out early in the season while frosty nights 
are common w'll also induce “bolting.” 
Beet also, although sown on thoroughly prepared 
land, will often run to seed if the operation is per¬ 
formed long before the 1st of May. So precisely 
was the time table of 01.e particular grower near the 
Scottish capital many years ago framed, that he ob¬ 
jected to commit his Beetroot seed to the soil sooner 
or later, weather permitting, than the day following 
the district spring fast at the end of April. Such 
hard and fast rules in gardening may possibly not find 
favour with many, but there were not a few old 
school gardeners addicted to this so-called failing 
the excellency of whose produce by no means re¬ 
flected unfavourably on their practices. Reverting 
to Beetroot, I may note that I have been witness 
to many loads of it being consigned to the rubbish 
- heap which had bolted, and there was every 
• reason to believe that too early sowing was the sole 
cause. 
Swede Turnips, when growm for winter use, are 
also liable to be lost for kitchen use from a similar 
cause, which I have also had the opportunity of 
noting. From the 20th of May till the 8th of June 
is a good period to sow for successional crops. Many 
sowings of the Brussica tribe of plants might also 
well be made later in spring. There are instances 
where the seedlings are stunted from being over¬ 
crowded in the seed-beds, when the pricking-off 
system is not adopted and planting out not done at 
the proper time. Seedlings of such things as Onions, 
Carrots, Leeks, and Parsely I have always found to 
come away with more freedom of growth when 
patience was exercised in waiting for the right 
moment to set to work. 
It is always well for us to bear in mind 
that a dry, mellow bed for seed sowing is one of the 
most important factors for promoting success in 
vegetable culture, and time may be gained by turn¬ 
ing the surface soil of seed beds to the action of what 
sun and air is available for some days prior to sow¬ 
ings, more especially if it approaches a tenacious 
texture— Dr. Machie, Ayrshire. 
flowers are yellow with a maroon disc. There are 
several other varieties of Rudbeckia—R. Californica, 
R. laciniata, and R. sub. tomentosa—useful varieties 
for cutting, but R. Newmanii is perhaps the best for 
all-round use. Polygonum Sieboldii is most useful 
for furnishing a luxuriant sub-tropical growth in 
positions where the soil is thin and poor, and where 
most other things refuse to grow satisfactorily. It 
is a very effective plant for a mass, and when fairly 
established comes up very robust and free each 
season. It has a quick-growing hollow stem, not 
unlike a bamboo, grows to 4 ft. to 5 ft. in height, 
flowers about August and September, bearing a 
Spirea-like cluster of white flowers in the axil of 
most of the leaves. The stems in the early stages of 
their growth are streaked with crimson, and are 
usually about an inch in diameter at the base. 
Polygonum sachalinense is another useful variety 
frequently used on the continent for groups on the 
grass and in bare situations. Polygnum rubrum is 
a good variety, flowering in September, grows from 
2 ft. to 3 ft. high, the stems bearing in the axils of 
the leaves a profusion of flowers of a deep red colour. 
The Polygonums are usually propagated by roots 
and crowns ; when planted firm, 1 ft. to 15 in. apart, 
they soon fill the ground and form an effective mass 
of sub-tropical appearance. 
The plants here mentioned are a few of those 
which may be depended upon for groups and masses, 
and are of sufficient hardiness to withstand our 
variable climate, though they do not exhaust the 
list. Among deciduous hardy shrubs the golden 
elder, Sambucus nigra aurea may be used with good 
effect for a mass of yellow. The Acer negundo 
variegata for white and green, while in some places 
many of the new Japanese acers afford considerable 
variety of colour and are fairly hardy. For foliage 
of great size the Dimorphanthus Mandschuricus is 
effective and hardy. For a shrubby mass of silvery 
grey, the sea buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides, is 
ornamental and striking, it is also one of our best 
shelter plants. The golden-edged tulip tree, the 
Liquidambar, the Kolruteria, and the Rhus Cotinus, 
are all effective subjects, and are well worth being 
more extensively used.— D. Melville, Dunrobin,’ in 
Transactions of the Scottish Horticultural Association. 
, ♦ T 
PHYSALIS PERUVIANA. 
1 have grown Physalis Peruviana under the 
names Cape Gooseberry (not Dwarf Cape Goose¬ 
berry), Physalis Peruviana, and P. pubescens. 
As compared with P. pubescens, it is a much 
tronger grower, the plant standing partially erect 
and attaining a height of one and a half to three 
feet; leaves thicker, less regularly toothed, more 
pointed, heart-shaped at the base, and very 
pubescent or fuzzy: flowers larger (£in.or gin. long), 
open-beli-shaped, the limb or border widely spread¬ 
ing and light yellow, the interior or throat blotched 
and veined with five purple spots, the anthers blue 
purple. The husk is thicker and larger than in the 
last, somewhat hairy, and has a much longer point. 
This species is too late for our climate. At Lansing, 
Michigan, during two or three years, the flowers did 
not appear until the middle of August, and very few 
ripe fruits were obtained. Here at Ithaca perhaps 
a fourth of the crop ripens. The berry is yellow, 
not glutinous, and much like that of P. pubescens in 
appearance, but it seems to be less sweet than that 
species. 
This plant has been cultivated for two centuries, 
probably. It was described and figured by Morison 
in 1715 in England. In 1725 Feuillee gave a descrip¬ 
tion of its cultivation in Peru, saying that it was 
then cultivated with care and was greatly esteemed 
as a preserve. The particular form of the species 
cultivated in our gardens is that which was 
described and figured by Sims in 1807 as Physalis 
edulis, the “ edible Physalis.” Sims’ account says 
that “ this plant is a native of Peru and Chili, but 
is cultivated at the Cape of Good Hope, in some 
parts of the East Indies, and more especially at the 
English settlement of New South Wales, at which 
latter place it is known by the name of the Cape 
Gooseberry, and is the chief fruit the colonists at 
present possess ; is eaten raw, or made into pies, 
puddings, or preserves." This plant is rarely sold 
by American seedsmen. I have grown it mostly 
from French seeds. I once had it from New 
Zealand under the name of Cape Gooseberry.— L. H. 
Bailey, in Bulletin of Cornell University, Agricultural 
Experiment Station. 
Parisian Forcing Carrot. 
enough to send to the table. With ordinary varieties 
of Radishes there is an objection to sowing them with 
Carrots because the leafage of the former prevents 
the free development of the latter, especially when 
they are thick on the ground ; but this is obviated 
by sowing the Extra Early Forcing because they 
produce such a small top that there is hardly enough 
for bunching. It is the quickest growing variety I 
ever saw, and so bright and attractive in appearence 
that every one who wants early Radishes should 
grow it.— Con. [Our correspondent sends a sample 
which well merits all the praise he has bestowed on 
this variety. — Ed.] 
--4.-- 
VEGETABLE NOTES. 
Generally speaking there is little advantage gained 
by sowing the main crops of vegetables before the 
third week of March, more especially in northern 
and late districts. We have to admit having profited 
by hearing of the failures of those who after sowing 
Hardening Miscellany. 
EPIPHYLLUM TRUNCATUM AS A WINDOW 
PLANT. 
Brazilian plants are by no means frequently grown 
as window plants, yet the subject under notice is 
perfectly amenable to that mode of treatment. We 
noted some plants of it in a window of Mr. Holmes’ 
dwelling house at Brimpton, Berks. They are grown 
in pots and stood out of doors during the summer 
months ; and this no doubt conduces to the proper 
ripening of the wood and the development of flower 
buds. Under this mode of treatment the plants 
flower later, as might be expected, than when grown 
in a greenhouse or intermediate house with the 
temperature usually kept up in those respective 
places; but they had nevertheless commenced to 
bloom by the last week in February or even earlier. 
In hothouses the plants are very liable to be infested 
with mealy bug, but the window-grown specimens 
were as clean as a new pin, healthy, and bushy. 
They were not grafted and in the standard form as 
usual, but had been grown from cuttings, a fact 
w'hich accounts for their dwarf habit. The stems 
were numerous and freely branched, with the flower 
