Nasturtium officinale.

Varieties

Small brown - leaved, hardiest; Large brown-leaved, best for deep water; Green-leaved, easiest cultivated. - London Hort. Soc. Trans.

Planting In Water

On this we have the following good directions in the Bon Jardinier. The depth of the trenches in which they are grown being entirely dependent upon that of the springs by which they are supplied with water, the former are so prepared that, as nearly as possible, a regular depth of three or four inches can be kept up. These trenches are three yards broad, and eighty-seven yards long, and whenever one is to be planted, the bottom is made quite firm and slightly sloping, so that the water which flows in at one end may run out at the other. If the bottom of the trench is not sufficiently moist, a small body of water is allowed to enter to soften it. The cresses are then taken and divided into small sets or cuttings, with roots attached to them ; and these are thrown over the bottom of the trench at the distance of three or four inches from each other. The cress soon attaches itself to the damp earth; in three or four days the shoots straighten and begin to strike root. At the end of five or six days, a slight dressing of well decomposed cow-dung is spread over all the plants, and this is pressed down by means of a heavy board, to which a long handle is obliquely fixed. The water is then raised to the depth of two or three inches, and never higher.

Each trench is thus replanted annually, and furnishes twelve crops during the season. In the summer the cresses are gathered every fifteen or twenty days, but less frequently during winter : care is taken that at each gathering at least a third part of the bed is left untouched, so that neither the roots may be exhausted, nor the succeeding gathering delayed. After every cutting, a little decayed cow-dung, in the proportion of two large barrowfuls to each trench, is spread over the naked plants, and this is beaten down by means of the rammer above mentioned. After the water cresses have been thus treated for a twelvemonth, the manure forms a tolerably thick layer at the bottom of the trench, and tends to raise its level. To restore it to its original level, all the refuse should he thrown out upon the borders which separate the trenches from each other. These borders may be planted with artichokes, cabbages, or cauliflowers, which will here attain a great size. Cress-grounds should always be at a distance from trees, on account of the leaves, which otherwise drive amongst the plants, and require much time to pick out.

There are two weeds which, even in the cleanest cress-grounds, can scarcely be kept under; these are the Duckweed and Zannichellia palustris, which both multiply so quickly, that unless carefully rooted out, they do great injury to the cresses. The Zannichellia may be kept under by careful hand-weeding, and the Duckweed by raising the water, so as to make it float above the cress plants, when it may be skimmed off.

Planting In Borders

This must be done in September and in a moist shady border. Plant slips, and the only cultivation necessary is to dig the earth fine, to draw a slight trench with a hoe, to fill this with water until it becomes a mud, to cover it about an inch deep with drift sand, and then to stick in the slips about six inches apart, watering them until established. The sand keeps the plants clean. They will be ready for gathering from in a very few weeks, and the shoots should be invariably cut and not picked. They are not so mild flavoured as those grown in water, but then they are free from aquatic insects, etc.