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ANNUAL REGISTER, 181?. 



five inches in diameter, and being 

 more mature, they are with more 

 certainty preserved, in a state of 

 perfect soundness, through the 

 winter, than those raised from seed 

 in a single season. The same ef- 

 fects are, in some measure, pio- 

 duced by sowing the seeds in Au- 

 gust, as is often done ; but tlie 

 crops often perish during the win- 

 ter, and the ground becomes com- 

 pressed and soddened (to use an 

 antiquated term) by the winter 

 rains; and I have in consequence 

 always found, that any given 

 weight of this plant may be ob- 

 tained, with less expense to the 

 grower, by the mode of culture I 

 recommend, than by any other 

 which I have seen practised. 



An Essay on the Cultivation 

 OF THE Red Beet. By Mr. 



Goering, a Saxon Agriculturist. 



Next to the potato, the utility 

 of which js well known, the red 

 beet is one of the most beneficial 

 plants, the cultivation of which is 

 particularly to be recommended. 

 Every one knows, that sugar has 

 been obtained from it not inferior 

 to that of India ; and the manu- 

 iactnre of which would probably 

 have been established in Germany, 

 had not the consumption of wood 

 necessary for it checked its most 

 zealous partizans ; for the resources 

 of Germany in this respect are 

 daily diminishing. 



Beside this essential point, which 

 cannot be atbiiued from local dif- 

 ficulties, and which may not exist 

 in many other countries, the prin- 

 cipal properties of the beet are 

 those of wing nourishing, emol- 

 lient, cooling, laxative, &c. 



Supposing it to be cultivated 



only for feeding stock, particularly 

 cows, in winter and in summer, it 

 deserves in every respect to be pre- 

 ferred to most plants both for the 

 root and leaf. Though the white 

 beet is of pretty extensive use, and 

 much cultivated, it cannot in any 

 respect be compared with the red. 

 It is neither so firm nor so sweet ; 

 and we find, by experience, that the 

 milk of cows fed some time with 

 it loses its sweetness, and becomes 

 bitter. Besides, it can scarcely be 

 kept through the winter, as it soon 

 grows rotten. 



Tlie red beet, on the contrary, is 

 firm, sweet, and but in a moderate 

 degree watery. It is at least as 

 nutritious as the turnip cabbage, 

 and imparls to the milk a pleasing 

 sweetness, which continues as 

 long as the cow is fed on it. It 

 keeps very well through the win- 

 ter, either in cellars or in pits, 

 provided it be not put in wet : and 

 is as fresh when taken out in the 

 spring as it was when laid up. 

 They wfio cultivate both sorts, 

 therefore, should use the white in 

 the fall, and keep the red for the 

 spring. 



The leaves of the red beet, 

 which may be gathered in the 

 middle of July, the time of sow- 

 ing the white beet only, is excel- 

 lent fodder, particularly for horned 

 cattle anti pigs. It is true, bow- 

 ever, that the leaves cannot be 

 thus gathered but at the expense 

 of the roots. 



It is also indisputable, that the 

 red beet is one of the roots that 

 succted almost always. It has few 

 enemies, and a good crop may al- 

 ways be depended on, provided 

 the ground has been well tilled 

 and prepared, and the seed pro- 

 perly sown. 



There is no season amiss for 



sowing 



