THE BEET. 1 93 



beet, it has been computed, will give from three to 

 six ounces of the best seed. No cultivator should 

 ever sow seed that are more than five years old, as 

 they become shrivelled and rotten, and lose their 

 vegetative power. It is well known that the seed 

 of the white beet will often produce the red or yel- 

 low, and it is said that this may be corrected by 

 changing the soil from clay to sand, and vice versa. 



NOTE. Beets should never be cultivated on land 

 newly cleared, nor even on land that has been covered 

 with timber within several years 5 for it has been 

 proven by actual experiment, that such land is entire- 

 ly unsuited to such cultivation. Neither should beets 

 be grown for any number of years successively, 

 though the land should be ever so well suited to the 

 production. " Many farmers in France pursue the 

 following rotation : the first year wheat, the second 

 beets, the third clover, and so on, wheat, beets and 

 clover in succession. When beets are to follow 

 wheat, the ground should have two deep ploughings, 

 as it must be so hard as to require it. Some plant po- 

 tatoes the first year, beets the second, oats or wheat 

 the third, and clover the fourth. There is, however, 

 a sugar maker at Arras, who has grown beets on the 

 same ground for fifteen successive years, taking care 

 only every year to change the manure or dressing ; 

 this, however, is not a practice to be followed cer- 

 tain growers have been ruined by it. 5 * 



T^PBPIBP!BfW 



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