This is a well-known root, eaten only raw, and when young and tender. A
rich sandy soil is best. Like most turnips, the roots are more tender
and perfect when grown in rather cool weather; hence, those grown in
early spring are better than a summer growth. They do well in an early
hotbed.
The _Scarlet_ and _White Turnip-rooted_ are fine for early use. They are
always small, but fair, and very early.
The _Scarlet Short-top_ comes next, and is a very fine variety. These
may be had through the whole season, by sowing at proper intervals;
hence, others are unnecessary. Other good varieties are the _Summer_, or
_Long White Naples_; _Long Salmon_, a large, gray radish, not generally
described in the books (a splendid variety in southern Ohio); and the
_Black Spanish_ for fall and winter use. This grows large like a turnip,
and is preserved in the same way. The best method of guarding against
worms is to take equal quantities of fresh horse-manure and
buckwheat-bran, and mix and spade them into the bed. Active fermentation
follows, and toadstools will grow up within forty-eight hours, when you
should spade up the bed again and sow the seed; they will grow very
quickly, be very tender, and entirely free from worms.
Radish-seed is sown with slow-vegetating seeds, as carrots, beets,
parsnips, &c. The radishes mark the rows, so that they may be cleared of
weeds, and the ground stirred before the plants would otherwise be
discernible, and also shade the germinating seeds and the young plants
from destruction from a hot sun. The radishes may be pulled out when the
main crop needs the ground and sun. For this purpose the scarlet
short-top variety is used, because the long root loosens the soil in
pulling; and as the crown stands so much above the surface, they may be
crushed down with a small roller, and thus destroyed without the labor
of pulling. Sowing radish-seed among root-crops, and cultivating early
with a root-cleaner, an acre of roots can be raised with about the same
labor as an acre of corn.