BEETS 189 



Myatt's Victoria, a much later kind than the preceding; 

 stalks red, very thick and large. 



THE GOOSEFOOT FAMILY (Order Chenopodiaceae) 



The Goosefoot Family includes chiefly homely herbs 

 with inconspicuous greenish flowers. The ovary is one- 

 celled and one-seeded. Leaves are chiefly alternate. 

 Besides the beet, mangel-wurzel, Swiss chard, and spinach, 

 whose cultural directions are here given, this family in- 

 cludes such weeds as Russian thistle, goosefoot, and lamb's 

 quarter or pigweed. 



BEET (Beta vulgaris) 



Description. Native of Europe. A biennial. This 

 plant in the first year of its growth forms a fleshy root, 

 and goes to seed the second year. The seed stalk is about 

 four feet high. What is usually sold and planted as beet 

 seed is in reality a fruit, and is made up of several seeds 

 imbedded in corn-like calyxes; the seed itself is very 

 small and kidney-shaped, with a thin, brown skin. The 

 roots vary greatly in form and size and in color from a 

 reddish white to a deep dark red. Some varieties have 

 special qualities for table use, while others are valuable 

 for feeding stock or for sugar only. 



The garden beet is easily grown and is a very reliable crop. 

 It prefers a very rich, sandy, well-worked soil, but will 

 grow in any land that is fit for corn. For early use some 

 early-maturing kind should be selected, and the seeds 

 should be sown in rows sixteen inches apart in the 

 open ground as soon as the soil can be worked in 

 the spring. Ten seeds should be sown to each foot of 

 row and covered one inch deep. The young plants will 

 stand quite a severe frost without injury. 



