222 THE HOME ACRE. 



require similar treatment. The ground should be 

 clean, well pulverized, and very rich. I prefer to 

 sow the seed the first week in April, unless the soil 

 is frozen, or very cold and wet. The seed may be 

 sown, however, at any time to the first of July ; but 

 earliness is usually our chief aim. I sow two inches 

 deep and thickly, pressing the soil firmly over the 

 seed. Let the rows be about fifteen inches apart. 

 Referring to the manure which had been left to de- 

 cay in a sheltered place until it became like fine 

 dry powder, let me say here that I have always 

 found it of greater advantage to sow it with the 

 beet-seed and kindred vegetables. My method is 

 to open the drill along the garden-line with a sharp- 

 pointed hoe, and scatter the fertilizer in the drill 

 until the soil is quite blackened by it; then draw 

 the pointed hoe through once more, to mingle the 

 powdery manure with the soil and to make the 

 drill of an even depth ; then sow the seed at once. 

 This thoroughly decayed stable-manure has be- 

 come the best of plant-food ; it warms the ground, 

 and carries the germinating seed and young plants 

 with vigor through the first cold, wet weeks. 



In the home garden there are several reasons for 

 sowing beet-seed thickly. Unfavorable weather 

 and insects will be less apt to cause a thin, broken 

 stand of plants. In order to produce good roots, 

 however, the plants should be thinned out so as to 



