MY GARDEN. 



Beet-root (Beta vulgar is, fig. 143) forms another invaluable winter 

 salading. The root is independent of cold winters, as it is stored 

 before frost can destroy it. It is baked or thoroughly boiled till it 

 is tender, when it is sliced and served at table with vinegar and small 

 pieces of shallot. We grow it in ample quantities for use between 

 October and June, and for large families it is one of the most economical 

 and useful of plants. The seed is sown in rows a foot apart in May. 

 When the young plants are about four inches high, they are thinned to 

 about ten inches or a foot apart in the row, and they require no further 

 care than hoeing between the roots and keeping the plants free from 

 weeds till the beginning of November, when they are stored in any 

 convenient shed away from frost. There are many varieties. The 

 sugar beet is moderately good, but it is large and white. Henderson's 

 pine-apple is good. Nutting's is particularly well flavoured. Carter's 

 variety is very deep coloured. Cattell's is also good. 



As beet-roots approach the size and character of mangold-wurzels 

 they are more earthy in flavour ; hence the kinds which yield small 

 roots are preferable. Beet-roots and mangold-wurzels of all kinds, when 

 grated and mixed with flour, make very fair bread, which may be 

 advantageously used in times of scarcity. 



LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



The luxury of a garden is in no respect more felt than in its 

 production of leguminous plants, which can never be bought as fine 

 or got so fresh as when grown in our own garden. The Pea (Pisum 

 sativuni] is a particularly fine vegetal, which may be procured in 

 favourable seasons, and under proper culture, from the end of May 

 till the beginning of November. We endeavour to have them as 

 early as possible, but we do not always succeed, as early peas are 

 more easily obtained in the sandy soil near Grays in Essex than in 

 our soil and moister atmosphere. We seek to have them as fine as 

 possible, in which we constantly succeed, and we like to have them 

 as late as possible, in which we occasionally succeed. 



The first crop is sown in November. The seeds germinate, and 



