In its general character, this species resembles the Chinese or Pekin Mustard: the leaves, however, are much smaller, and divided quite to the mid-rib.
When young, the leaves make an excellent small salad; having the warm, pleasant flavor of Cress.
White Mustard.
Sinapis alba.
White Mustard is a hardy annual, introduced from Europe, and occasionally found growing spontaneously in the vicinity of fields and gardens where it has been once cultivated. The stem is three feet and upwards in height; the leaves are large, deeply lobed, and of a rich, deep-green color; the flowers are large, yellow, produced in loose, terminal spikes; the seeds are yellow, much larger than those of the preceding species, and retain their vitality five years,—seventy-five hundred are contained in an ounce.
Propagation.—White Mustard is always raised from seeds; about four quarts of which will be necessary for seeding an acre. When grown for salad, an ounce will sow forty feet of drill.
Soil and Cultivation.—It succeeds best in rich, loamy soil; which, previously to sowing, should be thoroughly pulverized. When cultivated in the vegetable garden for salad or greens, the first sowing may be made as early in the season as the frost will admit. Sow the seeds thickly, in drills eight or ten inches apart; and cover half an inch deep with fine mould. Remove all weeds as they make their appearance; and, in continued dry weather, water freely.
The plants should be cut for use while in the seed-leaf; as, when much developed, they become strong, rank, and ill-flavored.
For a succession, a small sowing may be made every week until September.
In field culture, the seeds are sometimes sown broadcast; but the more common method is to sow in drills fifteen or eighteen inches apart. When the crop is ready for harvesting, the plants are cut to the ground, stored and threshed, as directed for Black Mustard.