SPECIAL CROPS. 24 'J 



one and a half to one and three quarter acres per daj." Some 

 improved implement of this kind for digging roots is needed, 

 and will probably soon be supplied. 



The beet ripens, in the latitude of Illinois, about the first of 

 September. The leaves turn yellow, wither, and begin to drop 

 off. The longer the beet stays in the ground without freezing, 

 or being soaked by the fall rains, the better. But if there are 

 indications of rain or frost, secure your crop. It the rains 

 take you unawares, as soon as they are over, and ine weather 

 is dry, harvest the crop as speedily as possible. Beets, once 

 frozen, should be left a few daj^s before being dug. Great care 

 should be taken not to bruise, cut, or otherwise injure the beets, 

 especially when they are to be kept any length of time before 

 using. If some are to be used at once, and others preserved in 

 the pits, select the ripest for preservation, and let those least 

 ripe, and those grown in the richest soil, be always used first. 

 The best way to preserve the beet is to keep it frozen. Let them 

 once freeze, and then protect them from the rays of the sun, and 

 they will remain frozen throughout our northern winter ; but 

 as soon as they thaw, they must be used at once. The French 

 pil-e them in huge piles, of a uniform depth of from five to 

 eight feet, covered with straw in such a way as to shed the rain, 

 ventilated by various contrivances — sometimes not ventilated at 

 all. The outside beets are placed in perfectly systematic layers, 

 one by one, with the roots in and the tops out ; the rest are 

 thrown promiscuously into the interior of the pile. 



Another method, is placing them in pits dug in dry soil, two 

 feet deep and twelve wide, and of any required length. If the 

 bottom of the pit is inclined to be damp, a coating of dry sand 

 is put on the bottom, and sometimes a ditch is dug all around 

 the pit, outside the roots, and a little deeper than the pit. The 

 roots are then thrown into the pit, and a wall of beets built 



