36 VEGECULTURE 



will always prove beneficial, and soot and guano may be applied 

 during showery weather around the young plants. 



Carrots are the prey especially of the wireworm, slug, and 

 leather-jacket ; and the maggot is often destructive. These 

 may be combated by the previous application of gas-lime (see 

 page 144) ; also by the use of wood-ashes, sand saturated with 

 paraffin, lime, and soot upon the soil around the growing plants. 



BEET (Beta vulgar is). This sweet, nourishing salad- vegetable 

 may be grown wherever a moderate depth of rich soil exists 

 aye, even in the flower-border, for the Beetroot's ornamental 

 attributes are quite equal to its useful qualities ! 



Dealing with this phase of Beet culture before passing to 

 that of the kitchen-garden, it may be said that, of the many 

 vegetables which possess the decorative as well as the utility 

 side of usefulness, Beets surely take a rank to the extent which 

 fully entitles them to a place amongst our choicest flowering 

 and foliage plants a prominent place, too, in the way of pro- 

 viding rich colour effects amongst the lower growth of leafage 

 in the border a spot where very often in dry weather is much 

 that is unsightly in the presence of fading and soiled foliage. 

 Deep crimson red, rich golden yellow, and glistening whitish 

 green placed here and there amidst the ordinary greens and 

 browns of the flower-plants, add considerably to the beauty 

 of the whole ; besides which, the flower-border is, as a rule, in 

 a state of rich friability, well adapted to root action, so that 

 Beetroots will be quite at home therein, and appreciate their 

 aristocratic surroundings to the extent of affording additions 

 to our food supply in the shape of some edible roots. At the 

 same time, too much should not be expected in this direction 

 from a tap-root cultivated principally for the beauty of its 

 leaf-development, which is accomplished at the expense of 

 the root. Some of the ornamental varieties of Beet will be 

 found to be considerably affected by this principle ; but the 

 round or turnip-shaped sorts usually crimson-leaved give 

 splendid roots under almost any conditions. A few seeds of 

 both the ornamental and useful varieties may be sown at 

 intervals along the bed or border, at the time when spring- 

 sown annual flower-plants are being thinned, thus effectively 

 and beautifully filling up blank spaces. Suitable sorts for this 

 purpose include : Brazilian, having leaves two feet in length, 

 beautifully veined, and of rich scarlet, crimson, and yellow 

 colours ; Willow-leaved, a newer introduction, with dark, 



