124 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



Beets may be well kept through the winter by piling them 

 carefully on a level or slightly raised surface, and covering them 

 about a foot thick with earth, packed and sloped so as to shed 

 rain, adding other covering in winter, if found necessary. This 

 is called " holing." Or they may be kept in bins in the cellar ; 

 but when in small quantity, they may be packed in ordinary 

 barrels, and either headed or covered thinly with earth, in any 

 place where the frost does not reach. 



BENE PLANT. 



This is the Sesamum Orientale of botanists, and has, so far 

 as I know, no other designation than bene in the French, Ger- 

 man, and Spanish languages. Sow in a drill an inch deep ; 

 thin the plants to six or eight inches apart, and keep clean. 



Time : corn-planting time. May at New York. 



The bene plant is rather a medicinal herb than a garden 

 vegetable, but its value as a palliative or remedy in summer 

 complaint among children has given it a claim to a place in 

 the home garden. 



It is prepared by infusing the leaves or seeds for a short 

 time in water. It thus yields a tasteless mucilaginous drink, 

 which is said to be very useful in the complaint referred to. 



BROCOLL 



French, Brocoli. German, Kohl Italianische. Spanish, Broculi. 



EARLY PURPLE CAPE. EARLY WHITE CAPE. LATE WHITE, 



&C., &C. 



BRIEF DIRECTIONS. 



Set the plants twenty inches apart, in rows two feet wide, in 

 rich soil, and hoe often. 



Time at the South : sow from August to January, and set 

 out as soon as the plants are large enough. 



New York and the North generally : sow in September, and 

 set out in April or early in May for summer use. For fall 

 crop, sow in the first half of May ; set out in July. 



There are more than forty varieties of brocoli, but the best, 

 and perhaps the only desirable kind for us, is the " early pur- 



