122 THE GARDENER. [March 



Red Beets are more nutritious than the White — the former containing 

 three times more ghiten than the hitter. 



The main crop of Beet should not be sown till the end of April ; for 

 ■when sown earlier, and especially in dry seasons, it is apt to run to 

 seed, and the result is. small worthless roots. In most families it is 

 required early in autumn for salads, and to meet that demand a small 

 sowing is generally put in the first week in April. The ground that 

 suits it is an open sandy loam, moderately enriched with rotten manure. 

 Should the weather and ground be dry, vegetation is hastened and 

 more certain by steeping the seed in water for twenty-four hours. 

 Sow in drills IG inches apart, and w^hen sufficiently large to thin, they 

 should be left about 8 inches between plant and plant. 



Where the soil is naturally heavy, slugs are sometimes great pests to 

 Beet just as it comes through the ground; and it is a good plan, under 

 such circumstances, to cover up the seed with some light sandy soil, and 

 to dust with dry soot and lime as the plants appear above ground. 



Beet is rather tender, and subject to injury from frosts, and requires 

 to be lifted and stored in time to be secure from such. In lifting and 

 storing it great care is necessary, so as not to break the skin, or cut 

 the tops off too close, which causes bleeding and leaves the tuber much 

 deteriorated by loss of juice and colour. They are best stored in sand 

 in a cool dry place, or they may be pitted, but protected thoroughly 

 from wet. They are best and most conveniently kept in a root-room. 



The varieties of Beet are now numerous, and many of them are very 

 much alike. The varieties we prefer are — Barret's Crimson, Hender- 

 son's Pine Apple, Notting's Dwarf Red, Dell's Dark Lopped. Barret's 

 we consider preferable taken as a whole, where one variety only is 

 selected. 



ANAWASSA SATIVA VARIEGATA 



Is in many people's estimation the prince of decorative plants for a 

 dinner-table; but their being grown, as we generally see them, in 

 large pots, debars them entirely from that place of honour, and their 

 utility is thus ignored. 



Nobody but those who have seen them has any conception of their 

 beauty, grown, as w^e grow them, in 6-inch pots in Sphagnum moss 

 and a dash of silver-sand and pounded charcoal. 



We have in our mind's eye a garden that possessed at one time 

 upwards of twenty such plants, that did duty in all manner of M^ays — 

 from the top of a spiral onyx-stone column to a Majolica vase in a 

 bedroom. The common greenhouse Lycopod plays an important part 



