246 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



systems of cropping. (See Figure 63.) The fleshy leaves 

 of the garden type are used extensively for greens and 

 the roots are valued for pickling or for cooking. 



319. Soil. — There are very few American gardens in 

 which beets are not grown to some extent for the home 

 table. While this is true, certain soil characteristics are 

 essential when the enterprise is to be undertaken on a 

 large commercial scale, especially when the product is 

 to be sold on an open market in competition with beets 

 grown under ideal conditions. 



Although oval and turnip-shaped beets are shallow 

 feeders, a fairly deep, moist, but well-drained soil is ap- 

 parently necessary for all varieties. The sandy loams 

 are best suited for this crop, especially when earliness is 

 an important factor. When grown in heavy soils the 

 beets besides being unsymmetrical in form, develop a 

 large number of fibrous laterals, objectionable from both 

 market and culinary standpoints. Clover sods, green 

 manures and stable manures greatly improve the physical 

 condition of heavy soils, but in such soils beets cannot be 

 expected to produce as fine roots as in soils better 

 adapted to them. Favorable market conditions, how- 

 ever, may make the crop remunerative under adverse 

 soil conditions. 



320. Climatic requirements. — The beet thrives best 

 in the cooler parts of the country; hence the crop is 

 more important in the North than in the South. When 

 planted southward, advantage is taken of the moderate 

 temperatures of early spring. Although the plants are 

 comparatively hardy, frost sometimes injures or even 

 kills the very early plantings and the crop must be 

 harvested and protected before severe freezing weather 

 in the fall. 



321. Varieties. — Twenty-three varieties of beets were 

 described by Goff (Sixth Report of the New York Sta- 

 tion, pp. 120-132). They are grouped under four generpl 



