The Family Kitchen Gardener (1856)/Radish
RADISH.
Rúphanus Satìvus.—Rave, Fr.—Rettig, Ger.
The native country of this well-known salad plant is supposed to be China. It is valued by us for its agreeable pun- gency and grateful relish when mixed with salads, or eaten raw with bread and butter. They are supposed to possess medicinal qualities, abounding with a penetrating, nitrous juice, rendering them a good antiscorbutic. It is not admitted that they contain much nourishment. They should, however, when eaten, be very brisk and sprightly, always young; not tough, thready, nor overgrown. The young leaves make an agreeable mixture with Lettuce, Mustard, &c., as a green salad. There is an immense quantity of this article consumed in the Spring and early Summer season. It is a never-ending crop. Being of a rapid growth, it is up and consumed before the crops of Beets, Carrots, &c., make any headway, so that it occupies no ground as a crop by itself. There are many varieties, among which we select the following as most desirable.
Scarlet Short-top.—This is a long, tapering Radish, of a good scarlet color, with very short leaves. It is preferred by all gardeners, as it requires much less room than those with large tops, and is also the very earliest variety, when obtained pure.
Early Salmon.—Very similar to the former, though not of so bright a color, and is a few days later. It succeeds it very conveniently, and is of the same shape.
Olive-shaped.—This variety appears to be between the Scarlet Short-top and the Red Turnip Radish, partaking of both shapes (being a long oval) and maturing for the table between those two varieties.
White Turnip-rooted.—Very appropriately named, and highly esteemed. It succeeds those already described in maturing, and will bear the heat better, without becoming hard and stringy.
Red Turnip-rooted.—In shape and size like the White, matures at the same time, and when grown with it, makes a beautiful variety on the table.
Long White Portugal.—A very beautiful variety, in the shape of the Early Short-top. It does not come so soon as that sort, but makes a decided contrast with it. White Summer.—A large, long, oval variety; cultivated for early Summer use, is of an excellent, mild flavor, bears the heat well, and is a beautiful variety.
Yellow Summer, or Yellow Turnip-rooted.—The very best for cultivating, and indeed the only one that stands the heat and drought with impunity. It is about an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, and from two to three inches long.
Black Spanish.—This is a Winter Radish, of very large size; Turnip form. It should be sown in August and September, lifted in October or November, and stored away in sand in the cellar for supplying the table in Winter. It will keep good till the following April.
Culture.—There are few vegetables that require less artificial care and culture than the Radish. For the Spring crop, it likes a light, rich, dry, sandy loam; but for later crops, a deep, moist soil is preferred. The first sowing should be made on a south or east border, with the Early Turnip-Rooted Beets. The Radish seed may be sown in drills between the latter, very thinly, covering them with about a quarter of an inch of fine earth. If the nights prove frosty, cover the border with straw, which will greatly advance the crop, and prevent its destruction. If sown about the first of March, and good weather ensue, they will be ready in the first week of April. A second sowing with some other crop, such as Carrots, should be made about two weeks later, and at the same time sow the Turnip-Rooted varieties. Another sowing, of all the Salmon and Turnip kinds, about the middle of April, to be followed with two sowings of White and Yellow Summer Radishes, at intervals, will be the principal crops for the season. Towards the end of August and September, Early Scarlet Short-top may again be sown; also the Black Spanish, as formerly directed. Should they be too thick, at any time, when fairly up, they must be thinned to an inch apart; for if allowed to grow crowded together; they will not produce a crop. It will take six or eight ounces of Radish seed to supply a family fully the whole season, though some writers amuse us by saying an ounce or two is enough. They must never have sown an ounce of Radish seed and seen its produce. If the weather is dry, at any of the sowings, the seed should have a few waterings, till it is fairly above ground; and even when they are growing, it is of much service in rendering the roots more crisp and better flavored.
Forcing Radishes.—Very little artificial heat is required to grow them in perfection. Make a gentle hot-bed about eighteen inches thick, on which place a frame. Fill in one foot of good, light, rich soil. After it remains a few days, to get warm throughout, sow the seeds rather thickly. Spread a small portion of fine soil over them; give the whole a gentle press with the back of the spade; put on the sash, and keep close till the seeds appear above ground; then air freely. If the plants are thick, thin them out at once to about an inch apart; water occasionally when the soil appears to get dry. If sashes are not to be obtained, shutters and mats make a tolerable substitute, and after the first of March, will do perfectly, though forcing early crops cannot succeed without the use of good glass sash. The best variety of Radish for the purpose is the Long Scarlet Early Short-top, or a variety of it called Early Frame. We have already alluded to the practice of sowing Radishes among the Cauliflower and Winter Lettuce.
Radishes sown for Seed should be kept apart from any other variety. If they are within three hundred yards of each other, they will mix. Where the Early Scarlet is wished very pure, it is our practice to transplant a few thousand every season to seed for early forcing. If it cannot be kept so far apart, save the seeds of two kinds every year, for three years; you will then have six sorts in culture, and the seed will keep three years perfectly, if in a dry place.