IV. I THE AMERICAN GARDENER. Ill 



is not so good as a long and smooth one. As to 

 the preserving of beets during the winter, it is well 

 known, that the way is to put them in a dry cellar, 

 with dry sand between them, or indeed, without 

 sand or any thing at all between them. They may, 

 if in large quantities, and not wanted till spring, be 

 preserved out of doors, thus : Take them up three 

 weeks before the hard frost is to come. Cut of! 

 their leaves ; let them lay two or three days upon 

 straw, or boards, to dry in the sun ; then lay a little 

 straw upon the ground, and, ia a fine dry day, place 

 ten bushels of beets (picking out all the cut or 

 bruised ones) upon it in a conical form. Put a lit- 

 tle straw smoothly over the heap ; then cover the 

 whole with six or eight inches of earth ; and place 

 a green turf at the top to prevent the earth from be- 

 ing washed, by rain, from the point, before the frost 

 set in. All the whole heap will freeze during the 

 winter ; but, the frost will not injure the beets, nor 

 \vill it injure Carrots, preserved in the same way. 

 If you have more than ten bushels, make another 

 heap, or other heaps ; for fear of heating before 

 ihe frost comes. When that comes, all is safe till 

 spring ; and, it is in the spring, that season of scar- 

 city, for which we ought to provide. How many 

 bushels of beets are flung about and wasted in the 

 fall, the smallest of which would be a treat in the 

 month of May ! As to the quantity to be raised for 

 a family, eighteen rows, planted as above, across 

 one of the Plats (little more than two perches of 

 ground) will produce 812 beets, or nearly four for 

 each day, from the first of November to the last of 

 May ; and, if they are of the size that they ought 

 to be, here are much more than enough. Beets may 

 be transplanted, and will, in that way, get to a 

 good size. See Transplanting, Paragraph 169, 



