BEETS. 



307 



ground again firmed by being beaten down with the back of a spade, 

 or rolled. The first crop is usually sown about the middle of April, 

 and about the first week in May the plants will have shown through 

 the ground sufficiently to define the rows, and should then be culti- 

 vated between to stir the soil and keep down the weeds. After they 

 have attained a height of three or four inches they should be thinned 

 out, so that the plants are left four to five inches apart in the rows; 

 these thinnings are often used as spinach, and. usually will pay for all 



BLOOD TUBNIP BEET. 



LONG SMOOTH BLOOD BEET. 



EGYPTIAN BEET. 



the labor of thinning. The earliest kind is that known as Egyptian, 

 which is a round variety of a deep crimson color. The next in 

 earliness is the Blood Turnip, which comes in some ten days later 

 than the Egyptian. Another variety, known as Long Smooth, makes 

 a root about three inches in diameter and eight or nine inches in length, 

 is equally tender as the other two kinds, although not quite so early, 

 and is the kind usually grown for winter use. For the best manner 

 of keeping in winter, see chapter in this work on * ' Roots for Farm 

 Stock." 



