CHENOPODIArE.^.. 



209 



Etymuluyy. — Beta,i\\Q. j^pueric name, is said to l)e from tho Celtic word 

 6e«, " red," due to the color of the root. It is also claimed to he from 6e^e, 

 Anglo-Saxou, hut derived from the Latin beta, used hy Tliny. The specific 

 name, vulgaris, is Latin, and signifies " common." Beet, the common name, 

 is a mere corruption of the scientific name. 



History. — The heet is a native of Europe and Western Asia, along the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, and adjacent c<juntries. The /jeta maritima is he- 

 lieved to be the original plant, the seed of which is supposed to have giveu 

 rise to the B. vulgaris of the gardens, out of which have grown by sports the 

 numerous varieties that now exist. It was known to the Greeks ami Romans 

 at least 500 years before the Christian era. 

 It is supposed to have been taken to Great 

 Britain by the Romans in the time of Agri- 

 cola, A. D. 79, and the spread into Gaul and 

 Germany was no doubt due to the conquest 

 of those countries by the Romans. 



Use. — The beet is an important table vege- 

 table and pickle, and in Germany, France, 

 and the British Isles is used as a salad. lu 

 central Europe, Germany and France espe- 

 cially, it is extensively used for sugar-mak- 

 ing, and very largely for a feed for stock. 



The sugar-bearing property of the beet 

 although discovered in Germany, was first 

 turned to practical use in France in the reign 

 of Napoleon I., who, to render France inde- 

 pendent of foreign nations for sugar, en- 

 couraged the manufacture of beet-sugar at 

 home. From France it spread into adjacent 

 European countries, and especially into Bel- 

 gium, Germany, Austria and Russia; and at 

 present beet growing and sugar making from the beet are ranked among the 

 great industries of central and western Europe. 



Statistics. — The annual product in Europe is about 000,000,000 bushels. An 

 acre will produce 4,000 jjounds of sugar. An acre of cane yields 7,200 pounds. 



The crude beet-sugar contains a greater number of foreign substances than 

 cane-sugar, and the refining process is more difiicult and expensive. Its 

 sweetening power is identical. 



Beta \TrLGAHis cicla (Long Bee^,). 



SPINACIA, Tourii. (Spinach. Spinage.) Flowers dioecious : bract- 

 lets ; staminate flowers with a I-o-parted calj-x, segments equal, 

 stamens on the receptacle, opposite the segments of the calyx 

 of the fertile flowers tubular, swelled in the middle, :5-toothed 

 egg-shaped, 1-celled, 1-ovuled, with 4 lengthened stigmas. 

 1-seeded, included within the hardened 2-1-horned calyx 

 flattened. Leaves alternate 

 axillary. Annual herV). 



calyx 

 ovary 

 Fruit 

 seeds 



and petioled. Flowers greenisii and 



S. oleracea, Mill. (Spinach.) Stem is to 24 inches high, slightly branched, 

 more frequently simple. Loaves 3 to .5 inches long, tapering towards the 

 base, fretjuently hastate and lanceolate ; leaf-stalk varies from I to 4 inches iu 

 pR. Fl.— L5 



