36 



BEET. 



BETTERAVE. Beta vulgaris. 



VARIETIES. 



Early Blood Turnip-rooted. 

 Early Long Blood. 

 Extra Dark Blood 

 Yellow Turnip-rooted. 



Early Scarcity. 

 Mangel Wurtzel. 

 French Sugar or Ambef . 

 Sir John Sinclair's. 



BEETS, in their several varieties, are biennial, and the best 

 blood-coloured are much cultivated for the sake of their roots, 

 which are excellent when cooked, and very suitable for 

 pickling after being boiled tender ; they also, when sliced, 

 make a beautiful garnish for the dish, and the young plants 

 are an excellent substitute for Spinach. 



The Mangel Wur.lzel, Scarcity, and Yellow Turnip Beets, 

 are cultivated for cattle. Domestic animals eat the leaves 

 and roots with great avidity. They are excellent food for 

 swine, and also for milch cows ; and possess the quality of 

 making them give a large quantity of the best flavoured 

 milk. 



A small bed of the earliest Turnip-rooted, and other 

 esteemed kinds of Beets, may be planted in good rich early 

 ground the first week of April, which being well attended to 

 will produce good roots in June. 



Draw drills a foot apart, and about two inches deep ; drop 

 the seed along the drills one or two inches from each 

 other, and cover them with the earth. When the plants ae 

 up strong, thin them to the distance of six or eight inches 

 from each oilier in the rows. The ground should be after- 

 wards hoed deep round the plants, and kept free from weeds. 



if the planting of Beet seed, for general crops, be delayed 

 until May or June, the roots will be much larger and better 

 than those from the earliest planting, which, from being fre- 

 quently stunted in growth by the various changes of weather, 

 become tough, stringy, and of unhandsome shape. In case 

 of failing crops, Beet seed planted the first week in July, will 

 sometimes produce large handsome roots, which may be pre- 

 served for Winter use. 



