252 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



lous towns. The field-turnip is esculent when young ; 

 the carrot is so in all stages of its growth ; and, 

 therefore, when grown amid a thick population, they 

 form a great temptation to petty depredators, by 

 whom the farmer finds this provender for his cattle 

 much diminished. The field-beet, however, affords 

 no allurement to the hungry plunderer, as starvation 

 itself could scarcely induce him to make a meal of 

 this harsh, coarse root, previously to its being sub- 

 jected to culinary preparation, and even then it would 

 prove a most unpalatable repast. When cows are 

 fed with the beet, it is said that they yield a greater 

 quantity of milk in consequence ; and this food does 

 not impart any of that rank flavour which is com- 

 municated by turnips. 



There are several varieties of the field-beet ; some 

 with the stem, branches, and veins of the leaves red ; 

 others with leaves wholly red ; and some, again, with 

 the epidermis of the root in different shades of red, 

 brown, and yellow. Those coloured varieties are con- 

 sidered more hardy than the white, and one, having a 

 reddish skin, the mangold or mangol wurizel of the 

 Germans, is said to produce the largest roots, and the 

 most weighty crop in a given space of land. In 

 Guernsey crops have been raised of one hundred tons 

 per acre. * 



Some varieties of white beet are cultivated in the 

 gardens for their leaves alone ; these are larger than 

 the leaves of the red beet, and are more thick and 

 succulent ; they are boiled as spinach, and put into 

 soups. One kind, called the great white or sweet 

 beet, is esteemed for the footstalks and midribs of the 

 leaves, which are stewed and eaten under the name of 

 Swiss chard, or poirfe aux carotes. 



The JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE Helumthus lube- 

 rosus is a native of Brazil ; and was first introduced 



* Card. Mag., vol. iv. 



