CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 125 



for the next test. Four or five vessels containing brine 

 of different degrees of strength are then prepared, and 

 the beets are placed one after another in the weakest 

 brine. Those are rejected which float, and the re- 

 mainder are subjected to the test in the next strongest 

 brine, and so on, until those only are planted which 

 sink in the brine that is strongest. 



M. Vilmorin, the great seedsman of France, selects 

 his seed-beets by making an accurate philosophical 

 test of the density of the juice of each beet. For this 

 purpose, with a sharp punch like an apple-corer, he 

 cuts a piece^out of the middle of the beet, punching it 

 out with a wooden plug fitted to the aperture. This 

 piece of beet he rasps, presses, and then filters its 

 juice through a linen cloth into a " prover," in which, 

 with the densimeter and aerometer, he ascertains its 

 exact density. He retains only, beets of a certain 

 standard of density. The holes in these are filled 

 with sand, and they are planted in the usual manner. 



A custom, borrowed from the Chinese, prevails in 

 some, parts of France, of making, before planting, 

 three or four shallow, longitudinal cuts on the side of 

 t) e seed-beets (beginning an inch or two below the 

 crown), which open during vegetation. The theory 

 is, that roots are thrown out from these cuts, and the 

 beet is thereby enabled to draw sustenance from a 

 more extended area, throwing up a stouter flower- 

 stalk, less likely to be influenced by the wind, and 

 producing better and more abundant seed. 



Too much pains cannot be taken to plant the best 

 seed, for beets vary so much in saccharine richness in 

 districts where little attention is paid by farmers to 



