174 Beets. 



manured a year or two before the beets are sowed. Where the object 

 is to feed stock, the larger the beet the better ; for though the sugar may 

 be less, the fibrine and salts are more, and as the sugar chiefly makes fat, 

 and the fibrine muscle, the latter is preferable for stock raisers. So well 

 do the French and Germans understand this, that they often feed to 

 cattle that part of the beet that grows out of the ground, and sell the 

 I'emainder to the sugar manufacturers. 



Cultivation. 



Beets will grow in almost any soil, provided it is deep and well pul- 

 verized ; but in order to secure a large crop, the land must be highly 

 enriched. As we have suggested, the sweetest beets gi'ow on a rather 

 light soil ; but when raising for mai'ket we want a crop that will pay 

 for our labor, and the manure must not be spared, especially as with 

 most consumers a beet is a beet, and few stop to think whether it con- 

 tains ten or twelve per cent, of sugar. Large fruits and vegetables uni- 

 formly sell better than small, and, when raising for market, it is folly 

 not to cater to the demand. The rows should be a foot apart for the 

 smaller varieties, and eighteen inches for the larger, and the seed should 

 be dropped one in every inch or two, and the plants thinned so that 

 the table varieties shall grow six inches and the coarser kinds twelve 

 inches apart in the rows. The thinning out should be attended to 

 early, so that those left may not be stunted in their growth ; and the 

 plants thus taken out are excellent for greens. Clean culture and fre- 

 quent stirring of the soil are essential to a good crop. 



Harvesting 



Should be attended to before the hard frosts of autumn, for beets will 

 not endure frost like turnips, and careful handling is essential to their 

 keeping well. Beets bleed freely from every cut, and for this reason the 

 top should hot be cut too closely. The Mangolds are among the best 

 keeping i"oots, if properly harvested ; indeed, they improve by keeping, 

 and should never be fed till January. A good yield is eight hundi'ed 

 bushels per acre, or t^venty tons, though instances are recorded of nearly 

 twice this amount. 



We are glad to notice that beets are growing in favor with our agri- 

 culturists. Thus far they seem very free from injury by insects in this 

 country, and are grown with much less expense, and more certainty, 

 than most other roots. Cattle, horses, sheep, and swine eat them with 

 avidity. For cows they seem peculiarly well adapted, producing an abun- 



