70 The Egyptian Beet. 



THE EGYPTIAN BEET. 



By Feaking Burr, Hingham, Mass. 



Looking over the varieties of table beets which have been introduced 

 v\athin the last forty years, w^e find no one for which we could aflbrd to 

 exchange the old, familiar, early turnip-rooted. It is good in summer, 

 excellent also in winter, and no garden beet in cultivation surpasses it 

 in hardiness or productiveness. Almost every market-gardener in the* 

 country grows it, because it yields abundantly and sells readily ; and 

 there is scarcely a family garden where it does not find a place, because 

 of its early maturity and excellent quality. Further than this, it may 

 be stated as a fact, that the quantity of early turnip-rooted beets grown 

 and consumed in this country exceeds that of all other table beets 

 combined. 



But notwithstanding this, the cultivator will find in the new beet now 

 figured, and which was introduced from Egypt three years ago, an 

 acceptable, and even valuable, acquisition. So far from being but an 

 improved stock of some long-established sort, the Egyptian beet is quite 

 distinct in form, manner of growth, and paiticularly in the smallness 

 of the seeds, which are scarcely one half the size of those of the com- 

 mon turnip-rooted. 



The leaves are few in number,' of small size, and more or less deeply 

 stained with blackish purple, or purplish red. The bulbs, which are 

 much flattened, and smaller on the average than those of the last named, 

 are produced mostly above ground, resting on the surface like the bulbs 

 of the common Dutch or strap-leaved turnip. Well-grown specimens 

 will give a general average of a little less than three inches in diameter 

 and an inch and a half or two inches in depth. The flesh is fine and 

 tender in texture, the flavor is sweet and excellent, and the deep, rich 

 color is well retained after boiling. 



To secure the roots in their greatest perfection they should be pulled 

 before they attain their full size. When overgrown, or if allowed to 

 stand long after maturity, they become, like those of all table beets, 

 tough and fibrous. 



The Egyptian beet attains a size fit for use fully one week in advance 

 of the early turnip-rooted. Indeed, it is decidedly the earliest beet 

 known to us, and is probably the earliest kind now in cultivation. 



