28 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



inches long, and three or four inches thick. The 

 roots being tender, sweet, and palatable, are boiled, 

 then sliced and eaten cold, with vinegar, &c. ; they 

 are also sliced and scraped in salads, both as an 

 eatable ingredient, and by way of garnish ; they also 

 make an agreeable pickle. A beet-root, sliced up 

 with a Reading or Portugal onion boiled also in 

 soft water, will be found a very nice condiment 

 with cold meat, if mixed with spices and vinegar, 

 and an egg or two boiled hard. The root itself, if 

 eaten alone, affords but little nourishment ; it is, 

 therefore, generally used as a luxury. 



2. Turnip-rooted Beet is an earlier variety, and 

 much shorter and thicker than the former, but is 

 equally good in every respect for use : in both sorts 

 those that are of the largest growth and darkest 

 red colour are the most valuable. 



3. White Beet (Beta Cicla) was brought to Eng- 

 land from Portugal in the year 1570, and is in much 

 esteem for the stalks and ribs of the large leaves, 

 which, being divested of the leafy part, and peeled, 

 are great improvers of soup, and useful also for 

 stewing, and to be dressed and eaten like aspara- 

 gus : the leaves themselves are fine pot-herbs. The 

 above three varieties are mostly cultivated for culi- 

 nary use. 



4. Green-leaved Beet is much grown in Scotland, 

 and is used for the same purposes as the white ; 

 but it is not so much esteemed, being smaller and 

 less delicate. It is fit for use all the winter. 



5. Yellow or Mangel Worzel Beet is principally 

 grown as a valuable agricultural plant, for feeding 

 cattle, and making sugar. The roots grow to a large 



