BEETS AND CHARD 



73 



Important in the home 

 garden, for it is a great 

 advantage to be able to 

 leave beets in the ground, 

 and to pick them as you 

 need to supply the table. 

 The Edmand's Early is 

 sweet and tender, excel- 

 lent in every way as a 

 main-crop beet. 



Planting 



Time. — Beets are hardy 

 and may be planted early 

 as far as cold spells are 

 concerned ; but the young 

 plant is delicate and has not much lifting power. 

 If planted during April, and left in the ground 

 during a fortnight of cool, damp weather, few beet 

 seeds will have the strength to push up through 

 earth thus hardened above them, and new plantings 

 will be necessary. It is better to wait till the ground 

 is soft and warm. 



Preparation of Soil. — Turn over the earth to 

 make it loose, rake it level with a wooden rake, 

 and lay off the rows. Then take a piece of scant- 

 Hng six or eight feet long, and lay it along the Hne 

 of the row. Tread this firmly into the soft earth, 

 making a crease not over an inch deep. If scantling 



Edmand's Early Beets 



