RADISHES.
A familiar and very popular member of the Mustard Family is the radish, grown wherever we see a garden as large as a handkerchief. One of the quickest seeds to sprout, and the earliest vegetable ready for the table is this radish, grown in many varieties, to suit different climates, seasons, and personal preferences. All come from a wild ancestor, probably native to Europe, though that matter is in doubt. The cultivated forms some times escape from gardens, and give the farmer trouble enough as a flourishing weed. When this happens, the plants make more head than root, and "go back" to their ancestral form.
The early spring radishes are little, and mature quickly. In salads, the leaves are often used, as well as the fleshy root, when the earliest crop comes on. Red or white, globular, olive-shaped or long, the early radishes are known in many varieties.
Summer radishes, varieties that best withstand the heat and drought, and winter radishes, big and solid, that take months to grow, furnish valua ble food supply throughout the year. \\Tinter
varieties keep without sprouting or becoming hollow or withered until time for the early spring crop.
Radishes from China and Japan have been introduced. They are very large, but tender and mild, and very easy to grow.
The seed pods of radishes, gathered when still crisp and tender, are a fine addition to home-made mixed pickles. The half-formed seeds are em bedded in the pulp of the pod; seeds and all have the flavor of mustard, without any of the strong, bitter taste, or stringy fibre that is later found.
We have learned the use of the pods from Euro pean gardeners who grow one stringy-rooted spe cies, the rat-tailed radish, exclusively for its succu lent, twisted, pencil-like pods, often a foot long. These are eaten raw when fresh, or pickled for winter. Warm countries of the Old World use radish pods very commonly. We are just learning to do so.