PROFITABLE GAEDENING. 



CHArXEa IX. — CULTIVATION OP BEKTS AND MAKGOLOS 



Wlien we come to consider the beets, 

 we have to deal with the two ex- 

 tremes of refined luxury and sharp 

 commercial reckonings, for one of the 

 tribe goes to the salad bowl to help in 

 making the daintiest dish ever set be- 

 fore a king and the other to the cow- 

 house to make work for Susan at the 

 churn. And first of the garden beets : 

 these are grown for two distinct pur- 

 poses ; the green or silver beet for the 

 use of its leaves as a spinach, and the 

 red beets for slicing in salads, for 

 baking, boiling, and for pickle. 



Whatever kind of garden beet 

 may be grown, the culture will be 

 much the same, therefore I shall des- 

 cribe it generally, and make a few 

 additional observations on such devia- 

 tions as may be made from ordinary 

 routine for special purposes. 



Beet does not require a very rich 

 soil, though it will not thrive in a 

 decidedly poor one. Like other spindle 

 roots, recent manure is no benefit to it, 

 but the soil must be deep and fine, and 

 a plot should, if possible, be chosen 

 that has been manured the previous 

 season. It ought to grow rather quick 

 to be tender and well tasted, and on a 

 poor soil, or in a very dry season, it is 

 apt to be forked and fibry, and to taste 

 earthy — evils that may be somewhat 

 prevented by manuring at the bottom 

 of the trench quite twelve inches 

 below the surface, and adding a consi- 

 derable quantity of salt in addition. 

 An excess of sunlight is also bad, and 

 it is advisable to shade the bed from 

 the mid- day sun during the height of 

 summer. 



Garden beets are tenderly consti- 

 tuted, and quite incapable of bearing 

 frost, hence it is not prudent to sow 

 too early, though a bed of seed may 

 be risked in February or early in 

 March, a time when a pinch of almost 

 everything may be got in on warm 

 slopes, and should it fail, another sow- 

 ing may be made at the usual time. 

 The first week in April is the best 

 time for the general crop of red beet, 

 for winter supply ; and for spinach, the 

 Brazilian beet may be got in at the 



same time, and, of the latter, another 

 sowing may be made about the middle 

 of July, for the sake of its leaves 

 during winter and early next spring, 

 Sowin drills in four feet beds, the drills 

 a foot apart, and the seed ten or 

 twelve inch es asunder, and one inch deep. 

 It is best to drop two or three seeds to- 

 gether at the proper distances, and when 

 the plants are up, pull out the weakest 

 from each patch. The Brazil beet 

 requires more room — say eighteen 

 inches, or if the soil is very rich, let 

 the rows be two feet apart, and the 

 plants a foot and a half asunder, for 

 the crop sown in April. 



During the early stages of growth, 

 weeds must be kept down by hand- 

 picking, and if the ground gets caked 

 on the surface, use a small hoe between 

 the drills, and all the summer long 

 keep the crop clean, and the Red 

 especially must not be crowded, or it 

 will all run away at top, and form 

 scarcely any root. 



It is not advisable to leave beet in 

 the ground too long after the first 

 frosts. Get up the whole or greater 

 part in October, and leave none in the 

 ground after November. Trim oflf the 

 leaves and large fibres of the roots, 

 but be particularly careful not to 

 wound the root itself, or even to cut 

 too close in taking off the leaves, for 

 if they bleed, much of their flavour 

 and high colour will be lost. They 

 must be put away quite dry, in alter- 

 nate layers of sand, or may be stacked 

 up in a slope against a wall or fence 

 and covered with coal-ashes, and a 

 layer of straw to throw off" the wet. 



In growing white beet for spinach, 

 there need not be so much care taken 

 as to the shape of the root, all you 

 want is a vigorous growth, and hence, 

 in thinning the rows, the plants drawn 

 out may be transplanted, and one or 

 two more beds made up if required. 

 For family purposes, it is a most use- 

 ful vegetable, but is scarcely worth 

 the cottagers' attention, because his 

 mangold will supply him with a good 

 spinach from their tops. Another de- 

 viation may be made in the culture of 



