250 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



bunch. Each separate tuber is about the thickness of 

 the little finger. They grow very uneven, and are 

 covered with a whitish rough bark, while a hard core 

 or pith runs through the centre. 



This plant is propagated either by seeds or by offsets 

 from the parent root ; the first method is considered the 

 most preferable for obtaining good and tender roots. 



The skirret abounds in saccharine matter. Mr 

 Margraaf extracted from half a pound of this root 

 one ounce and a half of pure sugar. 



The BEET Beta was known as an esculent root 

 in the time of Pliny, who has given an accurate de- 

 scription of it in his work. The period when this 

 plant was first introduced into Britain as a garden 

 vegetable is not ascertained. It was cultivated at 

 Lambeth by Tradescant the younger in 1656 ; but 

 there is no reason for supposing that he was the first 

 cultivator ; on the contrary, it is more than probable 

 that the beet was brought into this country by the 

 Romans, and that it has continued since that period 

 to be an object of partial cultivation. 



The cultivated beets, in all their varieties, are plants 

 of the same duration, and nearly of the same habits, 

 as turnips. They are sown in the early part of the 

 summer, bulb towards the close of the season, and, 

 if allowed to stand, send up their flowering stems, 

 and ripen their seeds in the following year. 



The variety which has its root red throughout its 

 whole substance is most used in England for culinary 

 purposes. This plant is said to be a native of the 

 warmer countries of Europe ; but it is sufficiently 

 hardy to bear the climate of most parts of Britain. 

 The root is in the form of a carrot, but thicker in 

 proportion to its length, those of a foot long often be- 

 ing three or four inches in diameter. It is very juicy, 

 and, when wounded, bleeds freely a limpid fluid of a 

 beautiful purple colour. The leaves are large, long, 



