Campanula rapunculus.

Soil And Situation

The soil ought to be moderately moist, hut it must be light. A shady rich border is most favourable. If it is cloddy or subject to bind and crack in hot weather, the plants will not thrive.

Time and Mode of Sowing, during March, April, and May, the plants from sowing in the two first months, soon, however, run up to seed.

The insertions are to be performed in drills six inches apart.

The plants are to remain where sown; though in case of any deficiency, those which are taken away in thinning the crops, may be transplanted successfully, if removed to a border similar to the seed-bed, and inserted with the roots perpendicular, and without pressing the mould too close about them. The best time for performing the removal is of an evening.

They are fit for thinning when of six or eight weeks' growth, or when about two inches in height; they must be set at a distance of six inches apart, being hoed at the time, and the same operation repeated two or three times.

The plants of the sowings during the two first-mentioned months will be fit for use at the close of August, or early in September, and continue throughout the autumn. Those of the last one will continue good throughout the winter, and until the following April.

The soil throughout their growth must be kept moist by giving frequent but moderate waterings through the fine rose of a watering-pot, as required.

The root for which it is cultivated, either to be sliced together with its leaves in salads, or eaten as the radish, as well as to be boiled like asparagus, is most palatable when drawn young, and eaten fresh from the ground.

To Obtain Seed

A few of the winter-standing plants are left unmoved. These shoot up in the spring, flowering in July and August, and ripening abundance of seed in early autumn. Nothing more is necessary than to gather it before it begins to scatter, and to lay it on a cloth to become perfectly dry before thrashing.