HORTICULTURE. 



259 



K^i bee-. 



V*..-:-:. 



by themselves or in salad* ; they also form a beautiful 

 garnish, and are much used a* a pickle. The root* of 

 a variety having green leaves are by some accounted 

 more tender than those of the red-leaved son, and 

 are on that account preferred. Others prefer those with 

 dork red leavv-s, provided these be small and few in 

 number. There i* a abort or turnip-rooted variety, 

 alao of a purple colour, and used for the same purpose*. 

 From its mode of growth, this is much better suited 

 than the other* to heavy or to shallow soils. 



Red beet requires a light but rich soil, of consider- 

 able depth, and which ha* not been recently manured. 

 The ground should be trenched or very deeply delved, 

 and at the same time broken small with the spade. 

 The seed u sown in April in drills, an inch deep, and 

 fifteen inche* asunder. If sown in March, many of the 

 plant* are apt to send up flower-stalks, and so become 

 ni rim*. Kitchen gardener* often sow red beet along 

 with carrot* and onion* ; and drawing these two hut 

 for the market when young, they leave the beet alone 

 to occupy the ground. 



344. fn lifting beet for the winter stock, care should 

 be taken that the root* be not anywise broken or cut, 

 a* they bleed much. For the same reason, the top* or 

 cut off at least an inch above the solid 

 of the root They are cleaned, and laid in dose 

 long the floor of the cellar or store- house, some- 

 time* without any covering of sand, taking care how- 

 ever, to exclude frost ; bat mam frequently packed 

 with sand in the manner of carrots. 



If a few strong root* of red beet be left standing in 

 the row*, or rather be transplanted to Mm* convenient 

 spot, they will next year shoot op and produce Mad. 

 The flower- stems should be tied to stake* to proas* 

 their breaking over. It ia scarcely nicimaij to add, 

 that they should be removed as duunt a* poMible from 

 ; plant* of the green variety, or of the white 



3S3. From a variety of the garden beet, having ared 

 saJn but white fleah, sugar i* prepared in some part* 

 of France and the Netherlands ; a manufacture which 



W~_A l.li_ .. I. ^!L^*^~1 A II 



m* inaia sugars were uuefiy pronitHteu. A snail 



specie* of beet baa bam cultivated for a good many 

 years in France, under the name of C*i(ftassj*hri, but 

 'I i* very little if at all known in this country. It 



flaw I 



that of a bawl-nut. It i* ready for use in August 

 The eeloar of the root i* the same a* that of common 

 beet-rave; but it* leaf ia smaller, rounder, and rather of 



a livi.l hur 



The WkiU Beet, SaawMfc *>a> i il by some writers (as 

 Salisbury, in the " Bourns* ' Companion") to be only 

 * riatjr of the red, i* in reality a very distinct species, 

 Bta Cicla of Linnsrus ; but a* the leaves and nut the 

 root* of tkia species are used it will (all to be treated 

 of under the section Spinack pbntt. 



Slirrti. 



Sf6. The Skirm (S,m* .fcjermt, L.; P./Wna 

 Digyma ; nat ord. I'mbrllifrrai) i* a native of ( hi- 

 na. It has been cultivated in our garden* since the 

 middle of the Ifkh century, and was formerly more 

 ataamad and more in use than it is at the present day 

 - .Sv*ia Hort**ltm*, by J W. gent. l8*," 

 t is declared to be the " sweetest, whitest and 

 of root*.- It i* a perennial plant ; the 

 ' i; the stem ruing about a loot 



high, and terminated by an umbel of white flowers. 

 The root is composed of fleshy tiu>ers, of tlie sixi- of the 

 little finger, joined together in one head : these form the 

 part of the plant u *!. They are considered wholesome 

 and nutrijive, b'lt. having a sweetish taste, are not 

 relished by many persons. They are generally boiled 

 rved with butter like parsnips. In the north of 

 Scotland. the plant i* cultivated under (he mime of 

 crammack. It is the cltenis of the French. 



Any light deep soil is found to answer for skirret. 

 If the ground be naturally moi, so much the better. 

 In very dry soils, or during long-continued drought, 

 watering is proper. The seed is not sown sooner than 

 the beginning of April, lest the plants should run to 

 flower the first season, when the tubers would become 

 harsh and stringy Repeated thinning and hoeing 

 are proper, as in the case of similar crops. When the 

 leaves begin to decay in autumn, the tubers are con*i- 

 dered as'rit for use; but they are generally left in the 

 ground, rjul taken upas wanted Sometimes the pl.inti 

 which remain over winter, are dug up in the spring, 

 and the side-shoots, each with an eye or bud, are train- 

 planted for a new crop. These are commonly put in 

 with the dibble, and covered over head with mi inch 

 depth of soil. But the tubers yielded by pUnts pro- 

 pagated in this way are not so large as those of seedling 

 pUnU. 



t 



Scorzoxera. 



SS7. Seorwaera, or garden viper's grata, ( Searzoxe ra 

 Hitpanica t L. ; SyageaesM I'lid/gvmia trmalu ; ( 'i,-hr,i~ 

 cue, JUM. ) is a native of Spain, the south of France, and 

 Italy. The stem rises two or three feet high, with a 

 few embracing leave*, and is branched at top ; the 

 lower leave* are eight or nine inrhct long, ami end in 

 a sharp point; the flower* are yellow. It was culti- 

 vated in garden* in this country in the end of the Kith 

 century. The tap rout is the port used ; it is carrot - 

 shaped, about the thickness of one's finger ; tapering 

 gradually to a fine point, and thus bearing ome n 

 biance to the body of a viper : it has a dark brown 

 skin, but is white within, and abounds with a milky 

 juice. The outer rind being scraped off, the root fs 

 HasjBtd in water, in order to attract a part of it* bit- 

 ter flavour. The plant i* not, in the present day, much 



Kitchen 



Til* *ted* are sown in any cool deep rail, generally 

 in drill*, about a foot separate, wh re they arc to re- 

 main, after being thinned out to four inches apart. 

 The plant i* perennial ; but the root* are fit for use 

 only the Ant autumn and winter after sowing, while 

 a* yet no flower-stem ha* ruen ; the roots, hk.- ,11 

 other*, becoming tough when the flowers are produ- 

 ced. To avoid the risk of the plants running to (lower 

 the Arst season, the seed i* not sown till the middle 

 of April. If a few strong plants be left, they yield 

 0cm) freely the following year ; or the plant may be 

 MupagatoJ by slips in the manner of (.kirrcti ; but tlie 

 root* thus procured are not so good or tender as i 

 from seed. In some gardens, the roots arc lifted in 

 November, and stored in the manner of carrots ; in 

 others, they are lei\ in the ground, and taken up during 

 winter a* wanted. 



Saltify. 



39*. Kl*ify, or purple goat's-beant, ( Trap>pogr>n . 

 fi'.rr /nl i HI. I' , nnal.it ; (', 



fwcoar, Juss.), is a wennial plant, a nittivc of rome j>.irts 



