BEET-ROOT. 331 



by sowing the seed in seed-bed and transplanting the plants, 

 or by sowing the seed in the field from which the crop 

 is to be taken. The latter is that generally adopted. 

 Broadcast sowing is rarely practised in high-class farms, 

 drilling with machine or dibbling by hand being the rule. 

 The distance between the lines or drills is 18 to 20 inches 

 where the horse-hoe is used; 15 to 18 for hand- 

 hoeing alone. The quantity of seed used is about 8 to 

 1 1 Ibs. the acre. As soon as the plants show leaves 

 about two inches long, they are singled out, and left at 

 distances of one foot apart. In dibbling the seed, three or 

 four seeds are placed in each hole, at distances of about a 

 foot apart. The period of sowing is usually from the 

 middle of April to the end of May. During the growth of 

 the plant repeated hoeings are given, and no pains are 

 spared to keep the land clean and free from weeds. One, 

 indeed, must spend some time in the rural districts of 

 Flanders before any correct notion can be formed of the 

 painstaking character of the cultivation adopted. 



131. Where transplanting is carried out the seed is sown 

 very thickly in a well-prepared seed-bed towards the end 

 of March or beginning of April. If sown in drills, weed- 

 ing can be more easily done. The proportion of land re- 

 quired for a seed-bed is about one- twelfth to one-fifteenth 

 of the land which is to bear the main crop. As soon as 

 the plants show three or four leaves, they are thinned out 

 to a distance of one to one inch and a-half apart; the soil 

 between the rows being hoed. At the end of fifteen*days 

 a second hoeing is given. Towards the end of May, 

 when the plants are about as thick as the little finger, 

 they are taken up, care being taken to keep the long roots 

 unbroken, and, in transplanting, to see that these are not 

 doubled up, but fully extended. The transplanting is done 

 either by the dibbler, the spade, or by the plough. In 

 planting by the spade, the workman inserts the blade 

 along the line, and pressing it on the side forms an 

 opening, into which a second workman places the plant, 



