ROOT, TUBER, AND BULB CROPS 93 



cess on heavier soils . They respond readily to any well-balanced 

 fertilizer containing potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen. 

 If manure is applied to the soil in the same season in which 

 the beet seed is sown, it should be well-rotted. Beets will 

 not grow well on acid soils unless the latter are treated with 

 lime. Seed can be sown early in the spring. Good sized 

 tubers are secured in six to eight weeks. A continuous supply 

 can be maintained by planting seed every few weeks through- 

 out the growing season. The seed of the edible beet is really 

 a fruit containing several seeds, so that a number of plants 

 result from each fruit planted. For that reason, the seed 

 should not be planted more closely together in the row than 

 one to every inch or two. The rows may be from eighteen to 

 twenty-four inches apart. After the beets come up, they 

 should be thinned so that the roots do not touch one another. 

 In commercial establishments, all the thinning is performed 

 at one time. In the home-garden, thinning may be done from 

 time to time and the discarded plants used for greens. The 

 plants thinned from the row may be reset in new beds as they 

 are easy to transplant. The culture of mangels, sugar-beets, 

 and chard is practically the same as that of the table beet just 

 considered. 



151. The carrot. The history of the carrot is not defi- 

 nitely known. The fact that the Dutch introduced it into 

 England in Queen Elizabeth's time has led many to conclude 

 that it was brought to its present stage of development in 

 Holland. The carrot is grown over a wide area of the United 

 States and Canada. The cultural directions are the same as 

 for the beet, with the exception that the carrot will do well 

 on poor soils. Seed may be sown early in the spring, or at 

 any time throughout the summer, as carrots will stand heat 

 well and mature in two or three months, depending on the 

 varieties. 



152. Celeriac, also called root-celery, is much like celery 

 in appearance, but it is the root of the celeriac, rather than 



