C 126 ] 



On the Cultivation and Use of the Matigel Wurtzcly or 

 Scarcity Root, by Richard Peters, Esquire. 



Read December 8, 1812. 



After some intermission of the zeal with which this 

 root had been cultivated in England, 20 or 25 years 

 ago, I perceive, in some recent English publications, 

 that its culture is again revived and progressing exten- 

 sively. 



It will be seen in the English agricultural papers, 

 particularly those of the Bath and West of England 

 Society, about the year 1786 and those following, that 

 much attention was then paid to it ; though various 

 opinions were formed. The balance was highly fa- 

 vourable. Dr. Lettsom in England, was its zealous 

 champion ; and in his accounts of it, almost every thing 

 relating to its culture, qualities, and uses, maybe found. 



In Germany and France, it has long been held in the 

 greatest estimation. The Germans sXWt it Mangel 

 WuRTZEL, the French, Disette, the English, Root 

 OF Scarcity; and the botanists, of all countries, 

 B£TAALTissiM\;it being, in fact, the largest species 

 of Beet. It might have been called Beta excel- 

 lentissima; for it possesses much superior quali- 

 ties to those of the common beet. I know it well ; 

 having cultivated it, for several years, extensively. I 

 think it far preferable to the common beet, as a culinary 

 esculent. Its bulb, or root, has none of the earthy 

 savour of the common beet ; and its leaves are, in 

 many respects, better for the table than Spinach, to 

 which, when boiled young, they have some resem- 



