Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1915 — ALL-THE-SUMMER RADIsHES POSSIBLE. [ARTICLE]

ALL-THE-SUMMER RADIsHES POSSIBLE.

Two Plantings of Eaoh of Three VaVarieties, In Properly Prepared Soil, Easy. It is possible with a little care to have an all-summer radish bed and the benefit more than repays the small amount of care required. Soil for the radish bed should be a light, sandy loam mixed with stable manure and old droppings from the poultry house. It should be deeply spaded, pulverized finely and the manures well mixed in through the entire depth. If the soil is not naturally sandy it will pay to secure this looseness by adding soil. One of the greatest pests which hinder the enjoyment of radishes is the worm so frequently found at the center of the radish. A few pounds of salt to every square of 10 feet well worked into the upper soil will usually prevent trouble from this source. If the long varieties are grown, the salt should be mixed in further down, at least as deeply as the radish goes. Select a spot partially shaded from the full heat of the noon sun, spade, pulverize and mix in the salt and manure. Lay off In rows a foot or 15 inches apart, sow the seed in these and cover carefully to a depth of half an inch. Usually three varieties chosen with regard to time of growth, shape, etc., will be sufficient if these are replanted. Let one be a small, round, dark red variety, the quickest grower possible. This will come on very soon and last for a week or two. The bed should be resown as soon as any portion has been removed. These small, round varieties grow from the moisture of the early Bpring rains, root near the surface and exhaust the fertility only at the surface. Another bed should be planted at the same time to a slower growing kind, one of the longer varieties usu ally, and still retaining some of the quick growing crispness. They reach down to lower depths,/ draw on hitherto untouched food and moisture supplies and come on for use shortly after the first bed of the round radishes has been exhausted. These are eaten and replanted again and bring their second crop on just after the second growth of the round. For the third bed there is a large, solid variety known as the white Strasburg that is unrivaled for late summer and dry weather. It Is longer than most kinds and roots deeply. It thus draws on fresh food beds and by practicing the surface cultivation of the "dry farming” methods, it may be grown, fresh and crisp, sound and excellent for table use in late summer. By replanting this bed a second time one has in all six plantings and these have lasted him nearly the whole warm season from spring till late fall. It is even possible to sow the round radish seed in a box within doors and remove them to a glass-covered box out of doors, and thus bring on a few of these succulent little vegetables ready for use when most.people are sowing the first seeds. And it pays, too.