Mustard seed

“ It is a miracle you can perform for yourself any time from the end of March onwards by drawing the letters you want in the soil with a stick, and sowing your seed in them. You must remember, however, that the Mustard grows quicker than the Cress, and should be sown about three days later. Sow both seeds rather thick, and cover very slightly, or not at all. If it is dry weather water with a fine rose every evening. People often place a mat, or even a newspaper, over the seeds when first sown, as this makes them sprout [184] quicker ”

“ Here is the mustard mill, and amid all the noise within we are shewn the process by which the well-known condiment, mustard, is produced in such immense quantities, and in the greatest perfection. The mustard seed, which is grown extensively in some parts of this country, is crushed between iron rollers, and is then pounded in large mortars, a long row of which stand on one side of the mill. The pestles consist of long wooden rods with heavy balls of iron. They are set in rapid motion by means of steam power, and the mustard seed is speedily reduced to the condition of flour and bran. ”

“ Every manufacturer has his own particular formula, and consequently there are many different qualities, both in the pure mustard and the compounds. One is composed of 37 per cent brown and 50 per cent white mustard flour, 10 per cent of rice flour, 3 per cent of black pepper, a little Chili pepper and ginger.
Pure mustard oil, as pressed from the seed, is not pungent and will not blister unless mixed with water.
The English mustard seed is the best in the world. Of this class 4,995,800 lbs. of seed and 1,307,202 lbs. of flour were imported during the year 1908. ”

“ The essential oil of mustard dissolved in spirit of wine is occasionally prescribed as a liniment.
Substitute—Brassica juncea Hook. f. et Th. (Sinapis juncea L.) is extensively cultivated throughout India (where B. nigra is rarely grown) , Central Africa, and generally in warm countries where it replaces B. nigra and is applied to the same uses. Its seeds constitute a portion of the mustard of Europe, as we may infer from the fact that British India exported in the year 1871-72, of “Mustard seed” 1418 tons, of which 790 tons were shipped to the United Kingdom, and 516 tons to France. ”

“ It grows extensively wild and is also largely cultivated. The mustard seed forms one of the most important condiments of commerce. The mustard is often ground before it is sold, and frequently it is mixed with other spices and with oils and is known as prepared mustard. This latter variety is subjected to all kinds of adulterations, frequently containing very little mustard but with enough turmeric to give the preparation a yellow color resembling that attributed to the pure article. ”

“ Thirty years have passed since the grain of mustard seed was confided to the earth, and it has now become an immense tree, whose branches overshadow the most distant countries. Europe numbers nearly a thousand of these Sodalities, about six hundred being composed of externs, or mixed associates. They amount, in other portions of the world to nearly two hundred. ”

“ Mustard.—Those who care for salads need a supply of Mustard almost all through the year, and to secure a succession it will be necessary to sow at regular intervals. It is a good plan to keep a few boxes in use for the purpose in a plant-house or pit, sowing one or two at a time as required, and taking care not to sow wastefully. The seed may be sown out of doors all the summer, on a shady border, but nothing surpasses boxes or large pans under glass. ”

“ The operation of properly reducing mustard seed requires expert handling, and it can easily be ruined by incompetent operators. More than 50 or 60 per cent. of meal might be taken out at the first sifting, but to do so the bran would have to be chopped up so fine that some would pass through the sieve and spoil the appearance of the flour. ”

“ Mustard is often sown with Cress, but it is bad practice, for the two plants do not grow at the same pace, and there is nothing gained by mixing them. The proper sort for salading is the common White Mustard, but Brown Mustard may be used for the purpose. Rape is employed for market work, but should be shunned in the garden. As the crop is cut in the seed leaf, it is necessary to sow often, but the frequency must be regulated by the demand. Supplies may be kept up through the winter by sowing in shallow boxes, which can be put into vineries, forcing pits, and other odd places. ”

“ White mustard is not fastidious in regard to soil. When grown for a seed crop it is treated in the way about to be described for the other variety. For this purpose either kind requires a fertile soil, as it is an exhausting crop. The seed is sown in April, is once hoed in May, and requires no further culture. As soon as the pods have assumed a brown colour the crop is reaped and laid down in handfuls, which lie until dry enough for thrashing or stacking. ”

“ This black Mustard is a tall smooth plant, having entire leaves, and smooth seed pods, being now grown for the market on rich alluvial soil chiefly in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In common with its kindred plants it gets its name from mustum, the "must," or newly fermented grape juice, and ardens, burning, because as a condiment, Mustard flour was formerly mixed with home-made wine and sugar. The virtues of black Mustard depend on the acrid volatile oil contained in its seeds. These when unbruised and macerated in boiling water yield only a tasteless mucilage which resides in their skin. ”

“ As it spreads along it tends to force out other plants.
"This weed, like the wild carrot, is really very lovely. Could such weeds be properly held down in small garden areas they would be very ornamental. I saw a little flower garden once, quite beautiful, with two small clumps, one of wild mustard and one of field daisy, among the other flowers.
"The seeds of the wild mustard, like those of the plantain and other weeds, get in with the grain seed and so cause constant trouble. Farmers feel that such weeds must be thoroughly gotten out of the fields. ”

“ It prefers light soil, and gives a better winter supply than where the soil is heavy. Flower-heads must be cut off regularly to keep the plants in good condition, though just a few of the best kinds may be allowed to perfect their seed, which should be sown as soon as ripe. Mustard and cress should also be sown several times during the summer; the cress must be sown three or four days before the mustard, to obtain them ready for cutting at the same time; both must be cut almost directly they appear, as, if allowed to grow tall, they become tough, and their flavour is lost ”

“ It was customary in Italy to keep the mustard in balls till it was wanted, and these balls were made up with honey or vinegar and a little cinnamon added. When the mustard was required, the ball was “relented” with a little more vinegar. Canon Ellacombe says: “Balls were the form in which Mustard was usually sold, till Mrs Clements of Durham, in the last century, invented the method of dressing mustard flour like wheat flour and made her fortune with Durham Mustard!” We cultivate Sinapis nigra for its seed and Sinapis alba as a small salad herb. ”

“ Endive and succory are blanched in the same manner, and mustard and cress only require sowing, as they are cut for salads while in their seed leaves. In France, lettuces are often cut for salads in their seed leaves like mustard and cress.
Celery requires a good deal of care in its culture. The seed must be sown in March or April, in a bed the soil of which is formed of equal parts of loam and rotten dung. When the young plants come up, they are transplanted into another bed of very rich soil, and when they are about a foot high they are removed into trenches for blanching. ”

“ With reference to the deterioration to which seed is subject,1240 there are some seeds which keep better than others,201 such, for instance, as that of coriander, beet, leeks, cresses, mustard, rocket, cunila, nearly all the pungent plants in fact. The seed, on the other hand, of orage, ocimum, gourds, and cucumbers, is not so good for keeping. All the summer seeds, too, last longer than the winter ones; but scallion seed is the very worst for keeping of them all. ”

“ In the centre there are six stamens whose tips you can just see where the four petals meet. But the seed-vessel is hidden until the petals and sepals and stamens fall off. It then grows into a thin green pod, and you will find many of these slender pods standing out from the hairy stem.
Behind the yellow petals are four thin sepals. When the flower is fully out these lie flat open. They do not form a cup.
The leaves of the Wild Mustard are dusty green. They are each in one piece and are broadly pointed, with the edges cut like the teeth of a saw. [Pg 7]
3. ”

“ If prices are ruling high, they may get much more than four rupees per maund for it, and they adopt all kinds of ingenious devices to adulterate the seed, and increase its weight. They mix dust with it, seeds of weeds, even grains of wheat, and mustard, pea, and other seeds. In buying seed, therefore, one has to be very careful, to reject all that looks bad, or that may have been adulterated. They will even get old useless seed, the refuse stock of former years, and mixing this with leaves of the neem tree and some turmeric powder, give it a gloss that makes it look like fresh seed. ”

“ The advantage of mixture depends upon the fact that the white mustard seeds have an excess of the ferment myrosin, and the black, whilst somewhat deficient in myrosin, yield a volatile body as compared with the fixed product of the white mustard seeds. ”

“ And further, as to quality—The Lancet, in substance, reports that genuine Mustard will be as varied in strength, pungency, and flavour, as are the known differences between the finest and most inferior qualities of seed; it results, then, that genuine does not necessarily imply high quality. ”

“ It is at once plain that the seedlings fall into two classes, according to the number of cotyledons or seed-leaves which they possess. The wheat and maize have only one such seed-leaf, while the mustard, bean, pea, sycamore, and vegetable marrow have two each. We shall see later on that one-seed-leaved plants differ from those with two seed-leaves not only in the number of their cotyledons, but also in the characters of their leaves and flowers and in their method of growth. ”

“ Almost any good soil will produce a crop of mustard. The basal leaves of mustard are used for greens, and as the plants require but a short time to reach the proper stage for use frequent sowings should be made. Sow the seeds thickly in drills as early as possible in the spring, or for late use sow the seeds in September or October. ”

“ Mustard is in daily use at our tables, and the seeds, whole or bruised, are employed in pickles, and for numerous other culinary purposes. These seeds yield, on pressure, a considerable quantity of oil, which is soft and insipid to the taste, and partakes but little of the acrimony of the plant.
Different preparations of mustard are sometimes used in medicine. The seeds, taken internally, are serviceable in asthma, rheumatism, and palsy. Cataplasms of mustard are employed, on account of its stimulating properties, on benumbed or paralytic limbs. ”

“ This plant affords another striking instance of the care of Providence in preserving the species of the vegetable kingdom, it being noticed in the Isle of Ely and other places, that wherever new ditches are thrown out, or the earth dug to any unusual depth, the seeds of Black Mustard immediately throw up a crop. ”

“ The adaptations of these Orange-tips to the conditions of their lives are by no means confined to this remarkable resemblance to the flowery background. In the case of some species the whole yearly cycle has been adapted to correspond to the yearly history of the cruciferous food plant. As is well known many species of the mustard family spring up early in the season, put forth their blossoms which quickly develop into fruits and then die down, the species being carried through until the next year by the dormant seeds. ”

“ When triturated with water the seeds form a yellowish emulsion of very pungent taste, but it is inodorous and does not under any circumstances yield a volatile oil. The powdered seeds made into a paste with cold water act as a highly stimulating cataplasm. The entire seeds yield to cold water an abundance of mucilage.
Microscopic Structure—The epidermal cells of white mustard afford a good illustration of a mucilage-yielding layer such as is met with, under many variations, in the seeds of numerous plants. ”

“ But there may be one or two plants that stand out conspicuously as the best of the whole lot. These are the ones to mark with a stake so they will not be molested when the crop is being gathered and so they will attain their fullest development.
These best plants, and only these, should then be chosen as the seed bearers. No others should be allowed even to produce flowers. When the seed has ripened, that from each plant should be kept separate during the curing process described elsewhere. And when spring comes again, each lot of [Pg 17] seed should be sown by itself. ”

“ The seeds are very sensitive to cold and moisture, and should not be sown until the ground has become warm—the last week in May or the first of June being early enough in New York. The seed should be sown in a drill 1 inch deep, the plants thinned to stand 12 inches in the row. Give the same culture as for corn. One ounce will sow 40 feet of drill. Dwarf varieties are best for the North. Green Density and Velvet are leading varieties.
Onion.—A few onions, of one kind or another, give character to every good kitchen-garden. They are grown from seeds (“black seed”) for the main crop. ”