Beets. 173 



because the sugar most abounds then, and because they come early in 

 the season, when other vegetables are scarce. As the season advances, 

 and the beets grow old, the -cellular tissue, containing the sugar, dimin- 

 ishes, and the fibrous increases. This is particularly the case when the 

 roots are exposed to the air. Hence beets, as soon as dug, should be 

 covered with dry sand. 



Varieties. 

 The four leading-varieties of beets are, the Bassano, or Turnip, the 

 Long Blood, the White, or Silesian, and the Mangold Wurtzel. The 

 sub-varieties are legion. The first two of the leading varieties are those 

 chiefly used for tl"te table, the third for the manufacture of sugar, and 

 the last for feeding stock. Some of the turnip-beets are ready for the 

 table in six or eight weeks from sowing, and though not half grown, 

 are tender and sweet, and are never more palatable. Even the Man- 

 golds, when young, are very acceptable as a table beet ; but the habit 

 of their growth is to shoot out of the ground, and they soon become 

 fibrous in that part exposed to the air. The sugar beet tastes no sweeter 

 than the Bassano or Mangold, and the analysis shows but a trifle more 

 sugar in one variet}' than in another. Johnson gives the analysis of the 

 sugar beet of France as follows : — 



Water, 81^ 



Sugar, 10^ 



Fibre, etc., 5 



Gluten, 3 



^ 100 



Knapp gives as the average result of several analyses of. Man- 

 golds, — 



Water, 83 



Sugar, 10 



Fibre, etc., 4 



Gluten, etc., 3 



100 



We have no doubt that the amount of sugar in the beet varies much 

 with the soil. We have raised beets in a sandy loam, manured chiefly 

 with wood ashes, that were seemingly twice as sweet as those grown 

 in a stronger soil highly enriched with nitrogenous manure. The roots 

 do not grow as large in a sandy soil, but this loss is fully compensated 

 by their superior quality. The sugar manufacturers of France pay a 

 higher price for small than large beets, and prefer those raised on land 



