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CRESS

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 413 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CRESS , in See also:

botany. " See also:Garden Cress " (Lepidium sativum) is an See also:annual plant (nat. ord. See also:Cruciferae), known as a cultivated plant at the See also:present See also:day in See also:Europe, See also:North See also:Africa, western See also:Asia and See also:India, but its origin is obscure. See also:Alphonse de See also:Candolle (L'Origine See also:des plantes cultivees) says its cultivation must date from See also:ancient times and be widely diffused, for very different names for it exist in the Arab, See also:Persian, Albanian, Hindustani and See also:Bengali See also:tongues. He considered the plant to be of Persian origin, whence it may have spread after the See also:Sanskrit See also:epoch (there is no Sanskrit name for it) into the gardens of India, See also:Syria, See also:Greece and North Africa. It is used in salads, the See also:young See also:plants being cut and eaten while still in the See also:seed-See also:leaf, forming, along with plants of the See also:white See also:mustard in the same See also:stage of growth, what is commonly called " small See also:salad." The seeds should be sown thickly broadcast or in rows in See also:succession every ten or fourteen days, according to the demand. The sowings may be made in the open ground from See also:March till See also:October, the earliest under See also:hand-glasses, and the summer ones in a cool moist situation, where See also:water from trees, shrubs, walls, &c., cannot fall on or near them. The grit thrown up by falling water pierces the See also:tender tissues of the cress, and cannot be thoroughly removed by washing. During See also:winter they must be raised on a slight hotbed, or in shallow boxes or pans placed in any of the See also:glass-houses where there is a temperature of 6o° or 65°. Cress is subject to the attack of a fungus (Pythium de-Baryanum) if kept too See also:close and moist. The pest very quickly infects a whole See also:sowing. There is no cure for it; preventive See also:measures should therefore be taken by keeping the sowings fairly dry and well ventilated.

The seed should be sown on new See also:

soil, and should not be covered. The " See also:Golden " or " Australian " cress is a See also:dwarf, yellowish-See also:green, mild-flavoured sort, which is cut and eaten when a little more advanced in growth but while still young and tender. It should be sown at intervals of a See also:month from March onwards, the autumn sowing, for winter and See also:spring use, being made in a sheltered situation. The " curled " or " See also:Normandy " cress is a very See also:hardy sort, of See also:good flavour. In this, which is allowed to grow like See also:parsley, the leaves are picked for use while young; and, being finely cut and curled, they are well adapted for garnishing. It should be sown thinly, in drills, in good soil in the open See also:borders, in March, See also:April and May, and for winter and spring use at the See also:foot of a See also:south See also:wall See also:early in See also:September, and about the See also:middle of October. Water - cress.—" Water-cress " (See also:Nasturtium officinale) is a member of the same natural See also:order, and a native of See also:Great See also:Britain. Although now so largely used, it does not appear to have been cultivated in See also:England See also:prior to the 19th See also:century, though in See also:Germany, especially near See also:Erfurt, it had been grown See also:long previously. Its flavour is due to an essential oil containing See also:sulphur. Water-cress is largely cultivated in shallow ditches, prepared in wet, See also:low-lying meadows, means being provided for flooding the ditches at will. Where the amount of water available is limited, the ditches are arranged at successively higher levels, so as to allow of the See also:volume admitted to the upper ditch being passed successively to the others. The ditches are usually puddled with See also:clay, which is covered to the See also:depth of 9 to 12 in. with well-manured soil.

A stock of plants may be raised in two ways—by cuttings, and by seeds. If a stock is to be raised from cuttings, the desired quantity of young shoots is gathered—those sold in bunches for salad serve the purpose well—and reduced where necessary to about 3 in. in length, the basal and frequently rooted portion being rejected. They are dibbled thickly into one of the ditches, and only enough water admitted to just See also:

cover the soil. If the start is made in See also:late spring, the cuttings will be rooted in a See also:week. They are allowed to remain for another week or two, and are then taken up and dropped about 9 in. apart into the other ditches, which have been slightly flooded to receive them. There is no need to plant them—the young roots will very soon be securely anchored. The volume of water is increased as the plants grow. If raised from seed, the seed-See also:bed is prepared as for cuttings, and seed sown either in drills or broadcast. No flooding is done until the seedlings are up. Water is then admitted, the level being raised as the plants grow. When 5 or 6 in. high, they are taken up and dropped into their permanent quarters precisely like those raised from cuttings. Cultivated as above described, the plants afford frequent cuttings of large clean cress of excellent flavour for See also:market purposes.

Sooner or later growth will become less vigorous and flowering shoots will be produced. This will be accompanied by a pronounced deterioration of the remaining vegetative shoots. These signs will be interpreted by the grower to mean that his plants, as a market See also:

crop, are worn out. He will therefore take steps to repeat the routine of culture above described. In the winter the ditches are flooded to protect the cress from See also:frost. The best-flavoured water-cress is produced in the pure water of See also:running streams over See also:chalk or See also:gravel soil. Should the water be contaminated by sewage or other undesirable See also:matter, the plants not only absorb some of the impurities but also serve to See also:anchor much of the solid particles washed as scum among them. This is extremely difficult to dislodge by washing, and renders the cress a source of danger as See also:food. Water-cress for domestic use may be raised as a See also:kitchen-garden crop if frequently watered overhead. Beds to afford cress during the summer should be made in broad trenches on a border facing north. It may also be raised in pots or pans stood in saucers of water and frequently watered overhead. In See also:recent years in See also:America See also:attention has been paid to the injury done to water-cress beds by the " water-cress sow-See also:bug " (Mancasellus brachyurus), and the " water-cress leaf-See also:beetle " (Phaedon aeruginosa).

Another See also:

species of Phaedon is known in England as " See also:blue beetle " or " mustard beetle," and is a pest also of mustard, See also:cabbage and kohlrabi (see F. H. Chittenden, in Bulletin 66, See also:part ii. of See also:Bureau of See also:Entomology, See also:United States See also:Department of See also:Agriculture, 1907). The name "nasturtium" is applied in gardens, but incorrectly, to species of Tropaeolum.

End of Article: CRESS

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