are obtained by dividing the old roots, which may be cut to pieces downward so as to leave a single bud or “eye” surmounting a long tapering portion of root.  Each division will make a new, vigorous plant, which should be set out so that the bud or crown is three inches below the surface in light soils, and two inches in heavy soils.  The plants should be four feet apart each way, and two or three shovelfuls of rich compost worked into the soil where the plant is to stand.  You cannot make the ground too rich; only remember that in this, as in all other instances, light, fermenting manures should not be brought into immediate contact with the roots.  Plant in either autumn or spring.  In this latitude and southward I should prefer autumn; northward, perhaps spring is the best season.  Keep the intervening ground clean and mellow, and pull no stalks the first year, unless it be in the autumn if the plants have become very strong.  In the fall, when the foliage has died down, cover the crowns with two or three shovelfuls of rich manure—­any kind will do in this instance—­and work in a heavy top-dressing all over the ground early in spring.  Unless seed is required, always cut down the seed-stalks as soon as they appear.  The best early variety is the Linnaeus.  The Victoria is a little later, but much larger, and is the kind that I have usually grown.

Radish-seed may be sown one inch deep as soon as the ground is dry enough in spring, and if the vegetable is a favorite, the sowing may be repeated every two weeks.  A common error is to sow the seed too thickly.  A warm, rich soil is all that is necessary to secure a crop.

What has been said about radishes applies equally to early turnips, with the exception that the plants when three inches high should be thinned so as to stand four inches apart.  The ground for these vegetables should be very rich, so as to secure a very rapid growth; for otherwise they are attacked by a little white worm which soon renders them unfit for use.  Mr. Harris recommends the following varieties of early radishes, and his selection coincides with my own experience:  Bound Scarlet Turnip, French Breakfast, Rose (olive-shaped), Long Scarlet Short-top.  Winter radishes:  California Mammoth White, and Chinese Rose.  For spring sowing of turnips, Mr. Henderson recommends Red-top Strap-leaf, and Early Flat Dutch.  The earlier they are sown the better.

Beets—­a much more valuable vegetable—­require similar treatment.  The ground should be clean, well pulverized, and very rich.  I prefer to sow the seed the first week in April, unless the soil is frozen, or very cold and wet.  The seed may be sown, however, at any time to the first of July; but earliness is usually our chief aim.  I sow two inches deep and thickly, pressing the soil firmly over the seed.  Let the rows be about fifteen inches apart.  Referring to the manure which had been left to decay in a sheltered place until it became