2 ESCULENT BOOTS. 



calyxes contains from two to" four of the true seeds, which 

 are quite small, smooth, kidney-shaped, and of a deep red- 

 dish-brown color. 



These dried clusters, or groups, are usually recognized as 

 the seeds, about fifteen hundred of which will weigh one 

 ounce. They retain their vitality from seven to ten years. 



Soil and Fertilizers. The soil best adapted to the beet 

 is a deep, light, well-enriched, sandy loam. When grown 

 on thin, gravelly soil, the roots are generally tough and 

 fibrous ; and when cultivated in cold, wet, clayey localities, 

 they are often coarse, watery, and insipid, worthless for the 

 table, and comparatively of little value for agricultural pur- 

 poses. 



A well-digested compost, formed of barn-yard manure, 

 loam, and salt, makes the best fertilizer. The application 

 of coarse, undigested, strawy manure tends to the produc- 

 tion of forked and misshapen roots, and should be avoided. 



Propagation and Culture. Beets are always raised from 

 seed. For early use, sowings are sometimes made in No- 

 vember ; but the general practice is to sow the seed in April, 

 as soon as the frost is out of the ground, or as soon as the 

 soil can be worked. For use in autumn, the seed should be 

 sown about the middle or 20th of May ; and, for the winter 

 supply, from the first to the middle of June. Lay out the 

 ground in beds five or six feet in width, and of a length pro- 

 portionate to the supply required ; spade or fork the soil deep- 

 ly and thoroughly over ; rake the surface smooth and even ; 

 and draw the drills across the bed, fourteen inches apart, 

 and an inch and a half in depth. Sow the seeds thickly 

 enough to secure a plant for every two or three inches, and 

 cover to the depth of the drills. Should the weather be 

 warm and. wet, the young plants will appear in seven or eight 

 days. When they are two inches in height, they should be 

 thinned to five or six inches apart, extracting the weaker, 

 and filling vacant spaces by transplanting. The after-cul- 

 ture consists simply in keeping the plants free from weeds, 



