292 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



most common are spindle-shaped and less than a foot in 

 length, but some are almost round. A kind often fed to 

 cattle sometimes measures two feet or more in length, and 

 five inches in thickness. 



Sweet potatoes are eaten boiled, steamed, baked, or fried 

 in slices, but do not lend themselves to such a variety of 

 dishes as does the common potato. 



Beets. Of the beets we 'know with certainty that 

 their wild ancestor is at home on the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, where it grows a slender taproot. It 

 was probably first used, as it still is to some extent, as 

 a pot herb like spinach. As the root is easily enlarged 

 by cultivation, it has now been developed into nu- 

 merous varieties used for different purposes. A very 

 large variety, having the bulb chiefly above ground, is 

 called mangel (properly mangold-wurzel), and is ex- 

 tensively grown for cattle. A smaller kind, or group 

 of kinds, has by seed selection been so increased 

 in sugar content, that it is now the chief source of 

 the world's sugar supply. It is approached only 

 by the tropical sugar cane, which at one time was 

 almost the only plant from which sugar was made. 



The sugar beet is now extensively grown in California, 

 where more beet sugar is made than in all the rest of the United 

 States. To make sugar profitably from beets requires very 

 large and costly manufacturing establishments. It cannot 

 be made on a small scale, or at home. Beet sugar rightly 

 made can be used for preserves and jellies just like cane sugar. 

 Beet molasses, known as blackstrap, is not as pleasant to the 



