This pungent root is a great favorite as a relish in the early spring,
and is credited with tonic properties; at any rate it is a very
pleasant appetizer at a season when we have been almost without fresh
vegetables for several months. It can be raised in almost any soil,
though preferring a moist situation, and is most at home where it is
constantly moistened or occasionally overflowed by some stream. It is
raised from pieces of root, three or four inches in length and from ¼
to ½ inch in diameter. These slips are made from the tails or rootlets
cut off in trimming the roots for grating, they should be cut off
square at the top and sloping at the bottom, that you may readily know
which end goes up when you plant them. The slips should be kept in a
box of moist earth, in a cool cellar, after they have been trimmed,
until planting time. The slips can be planted with a long trowel; but
the best and quickest way is to drive a spade, full depth, into the
soil, flatways with the garden line, move it slightly back and forward,
to widen the hole, and slip a piece of root down each side of the cut
made by the spade, which will make them six or seven inches apart; the
spade should then be driven in about one inch back of its previous
position and the handle pressed forward, which will pack the dirt
solidly against the planted roots, the tops of which should be placed
about one inch under the surface. Where it is desired to increase the
supply as fast as possible, and where the roots have been used at home,
the crowns or tops, with an inch or so of root adhering, can be planted
again, but they will not make long, smooth roots, like the slips, but
will have a tendency to make several small roots.