200 American husbandry. 



fertilize it for another crop. But it will be seen Ihat 

 the roots alone make it a very valuable crop, far 

 more so than corn, or any of tlie smaller grains. 

 The estimated cost of producing it ranges from three 

 to eight cents per bushel ; the average is probably 

 from five to six cents. 



Range of Latitude for Cultivation. — In North Amer- 

 ica, as high as 45° may be considered as one extreme 

 for a profitable crop ; but as to southern limits, I 

 should try it, as an experiment, as far south as 30<3. 

 But in this low latitude it ought to be planted as ear- 

 ly as from the 20th February to 10th of March, on a 

 cool and rather moist soil, for the purpose of being 

 pulled and fed green at the beginning of summer 

 drought. Perhaps it would do well to plant between 

 corn, making the rows a foot or two wider apart for 

 the purpose of receiving the beet. The tall stalk 

 would thus shade it from the excessive heat of the 

 sun, and somewhat check its more rapid growth, 

 and possibly tend to make it last longer tlirough the 

 summer. Should the beet succeed so far south, in. 

 this way it would prove a great assistance to stock- 

 growers in getting through those months in which 

 pasture, except in the woodlands, is completely dried 

 up by the hot rays of the sun. I would respectfully 

 recommend a thorough trial of it to the planter : ij 

 certainly may succeed as far south as Kentucky, 

 and North Tennessee, and Missouri. I know men 

 who in an hour will gather a sufficient quantity in a 

 wagon for a large stock. It may be thus transport- 

 ed from the field where it grows to that where it is 

 to be consumed, and scattered round in the same 

 way that corn is now fed at the Southwest to cattle 

 and hogs. I thus kept a large herd of hogs through 

 September and October the last year. 



Raising the Seed. — There is as much in choosing 

 proper roots for this purpose as in selecting animals 

 to breed from ; and the same general rule holds good 

 in both cases : a medium size, and fine, true fonn. 



