CHAPTER TEN 

 ROOT VEGETABLES 



IXOOT vegetables form an important part of the 

 garden's supply, and differ somewhat from those 

 vegetables which produce heads, pods, or edible 

 foliage in that they, as a general thing, mature 

 later, some of the varieties, like parsnips and sal- 

 sify, remaining in the earth until the following 

 spring, when they are at their best. Others, like 

 the beet and radish, are among the earliest available 

 vegetables for the table radishes being ready to 

 use in from three to four weeks after sowing and 

 beets for greens in a little longer time. The prepa- 

 ration of the ground for root crops should be deep 

 and thorough, and ploughing is preferable to spad- 

 ing. All weed roots which are not thoroughly 

 buried by the plough and show above ground after 

 dragging should be pulled out by hand and con- 

 signed to the compost heap. The ground should 



be disc-harrowed, dragged, and raked to as fine a 



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