196 KITCHEN GARDEN. 



the carrot. They are also sometimes made into a mar- 

 malade, and are even said to be capable of yielding a 

 good wine. They constitute an admirable food for horses, 

 mixed of course with dry food, and when given to cows 

 add greatly to the quantity and good quality of the 

 milky products, to which they impart no unpleasant fla- 

 vor, such as is found to follow the Uvse of the turnip, 

 cabbage, &c. Th-e varieties best known in the Middle 

 States are the Guernese^, and the Sugar or Holloio 

 Croivn, the first being best adapted for large crops in 

 fields, and the latter for gardens. They may be sown 

 in tlie spring from March to May, in drills, and covered 

 about an inch deep. Thin to eight inches. Left in the 

 ground, they will stand almost any degree of freezing 

 cold in winter. 



Red Beet {Beta vwZ^ar/s) a biennial plant, native 

 of the shores of the south of Europe. . The boiled root 

 is eatQ^n ooldj in thin slices, either by itself or as a 

 salad : it is also often used as a pickle. The varieties 

 are numerous, but the most common are the Long-root- 

 ed, the Short or Turnip-J'ooted, the Bassano, and- the 

 Gigantic dark beet. ■' There is a fine French variety 

 cJllled Castelnaudary, from a town in Languedoc ; but 

 as yet it is little known in this country. 



The red beet prospers in a rich, deep soil, not recently 

 manured, and which "has been well pulverized by the 

 spade. During April the seeds may be sown in drills, 

 fifteen inches asunder, and the plants are afterwards to 

 be thinned to eight inches from each other in the lines* 

 In the northern parts of the island, the roots are stored 

 in winter, care being taken not to break them or cut off 

 the leaves too closely, as they bleed when injured. 



