114 COOL SEASON VEGETABLES 



Salsify. — The common name of this plant is vegetable oyster, 

 because of its flavor. It is commonly used in vegetable soups, or 

 may be served with cream or cream gravy as a side dish. As sug- 

 gested under the head of parsnips the salsify may be grown in 

 companion rows with parsnips. The seeds are slow in germina- 

 tion and should be soaked before planting. The use of turnips 

 or radishes to help break the crust and mark the row early is 

 desired. Thin the plants to at least two inches apart. Clean 

 deep cultivation should be given throughout the whole season. 

 The crop may be used in about 100 days after planting, but may 

 be allowed to remain in the ground the remainder of the season 

 or until winter or the following spring. The roots may be dug 

 at any time when the ground is not frozen. Freezing gives them 

 a better flavor. 



Beets. — A rich sandy loam is the best for the red garden beet. 

 Any deep, good garden soil will produce the crop well. Two other 

 types of beets should be considered under this head: the sugar 

 beet, from which a large portion of the sugar of the world is obtained, 

 and the mangel wurzel which is used chiefly for livestock. 



Good varieties of the red garden beet are Egyptian, Early 

 Eclipse, and Early Blood Turnip. The seed should be drilled in 

 the garden in rows early in the spring, twenty inches or more apart. 

 If horse tillage is to be used two feet or more should be allowed 

 between rows. Two ounces of seed are sufficient to plant 100 feet 

 of row. When the plants are forming their second and third pairs 

 of leaves they should be thinned to a few inches apart. The plants 

 from the thinning may be used for greens; they are as good as 

 spinach. 



The sugar beet ana mangel may be drilled a little later than the 

 garden beet, and should be thinned to about eight inches apart. 

 With all of the beets clean, deep cultivation is best. The garden 

 beet should be planted several times to get the most tender roots. 

 They suffer more from the summer heat than the other types. 

 Frequent watering will help to prevent checks in the growth. Sus- 

 pended growth causes the roots to become woody and unfit for 

 table use. 



Garden beets may be stored by piling them in the open and 

 covering well with soil over which is placed corn stalks or other 

 litter to prevent the soil from being washed off by rain. Mangels 

 and sugar beets may be stored in like manner. Sugar beets may be 

 sliced and boiled to extract the sugar in early winter and storage is 



