THE GROWING OF VEGETABLES 



181 



germination. Seeds should be covered about one inch or less. 

 A very eSuiclj crop of garden beets maj' be produced by planting 

 the seeds in hotbeds in late winter or very early spring. If 

 the weather is warm enough when the plants are large enough 

 to be thinned, the thinnings may be transplanted to the open 

 garden. For early use, the best table beets are the flat or 

 turnip-shaped varieties. For a long season of late beets, long 

 red varieties are best. They 



sufEer less from dry summer 

 weather. The true sugar beet 

 is shown in f.gure 105 ; the 

 flesh is usually white. 



Keep the soil well stirred 

 between the rows and do not 

 let the growth be checked by 

 drouth or other causes. 



Beet tops are often used 

 to cook as greens, yielding a 

 crop for this purpose very 

 quickly. This is another rea- 

 son for using beets in the 

 school garden. 



Beets and other root crops 

 should not be grown in the 

 same part of the garden two years in succession, because of the 

 danger of scab disease. 



Broccoli. — Broccoli is similar to cauliflower, and is not 

 much grown in American gardens. It is well suited to late 

 summer planting, and might be used in the school garden 

 to produce a crop during the fall term. It should in this 

 case be started by setting the plants, like late cabbage or 

 cauliflower, in July or August. The soil and its care are the 

 same as for cabbage. 



Brussels Sprouts. — This is also suited as a fall term crop 

 in the school garden. The plant is grown for the small 



Fig. 104. — Early Btringless wax beans, 

 variety Wardweir8.(CorneU Reading Circle 

 Leaflet.) 



