1107. Method of cultivating Radishes for Salad, so as to have them ready at all seasons of the year.—Take seeds of the common radish, and lay them in rain-water to steep for twenty-four hours; then put them quite wet into a small linen bag, well tied at the mouth with packthread. If you have steeped a large quantity of seeds, you may divide them into several bags. Then expose the bags in a place where they will receive the greatest heat of the sun, for about twenty-four hours, at the end of which time the seed will begin to grow, and you may then sow it in the usual manner, in earth well exposed to the heat of the sun. Prepare two small tubs to cover each other exactly. These may be easily provided, by sawing a small cask through the middle, and they will serve in winter; in summer one will be sufficient for each kind of earth that has been sown. As soon as you have sown your seeds you must cover them with your tub, and at the end of three days you will find radishes of the size and thickness of young lettuces, having at their extremities two small round leaves, rising from the earth, of a reddish color. These radishes, cut or pulled up, will be excellent, if mixed with salad, and they have a much more delicate taste than the common radishes which are eaten with salt.
By taking the following precautions, you may have them in the winter, and even during the hardest frosts: After having steeped the seeds in warm water, and exposed them to the sun, as already directed, or in a place sufficiently hot to make them shoot forth, warm the two tubs; fill one of them with earth well dunged; sow your seeds, thus prepared, in one of them, and cover it with the other tub; you must then be careful to sprinkle it with warm water as often as may be necessary. Then carry the two tubs closely joined, taking care they cover each other, into a warm vault, or cellar, and at the end of fifteen days you may gather a fine salad.
1108. To preserve Strawberry Plants from the Heat of the Sun, &c.—Sir Joseph Banks, from a variety of experiments, and the experience of many years, recommends a general revival of the now almost obsolete practice of laying straw under strawberry-plants, when the fruit begins to swell; by which means the roots are shaded from the sun, the waste of moisture by evaporation prevented, the leaning fruit kept from damage by resting on the ground, particularly in wet weather, and much labor in watering saved. Twenty trusses of long straw are sufficient for 1800 feet of plants.
1109. Directions for managing Strawberries in Summer.—On the management of strawberries in June and July, the future prosperity of them greatly depends; and if each plant has not been kept separate, by cutting off the runners, they will be in a state of confusion, and you will find three different sorts of plants.
1. Old plants, whose roots are turned black, hard, and woody.
2. Young plants, not strong enough to flower.
3. Flowering plants, which ought only to be there, and perhaps not many of them.