226 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



they would deteriorate the quality of the vege- 

 table ; but we have Beldom found above two or 

 three dozen upon some of the scattered tubers. 

 The full-grown insect is opaque, white, with a 

 slight huffish tinge, finely serecious and setose ; 

 the head and first segment of the body with a 

 slightly greyish-brown tinge, and the legs and 

 antennae of a light huffish brown. The antennae 

 are moderately long, and apparently six-jointed, 

 the third joint being the longest ; under a power- 

 ful lens, the extremity of the sixth joint exhibits 

 some traces of articulation. The mouth is con- 

 structed in the same manner as all the Aphidse, 

 and other homopterous and hemipterous insects. 

 The four anterior legs offer nothing peculiar; 

 their tarsi are two-jointed, but the two hind legs 

 are inserted quite at the sides of the body ; they 

 are long, with a long tarsus, composed of a single 

 joint, armed at its extremity with two hooks; 

 the peculiar lateral insertion of this pair of legs 

 enables the insect to throw them upwards, back- 

 wards, and forwards, in the same manner as a 

 dytiscus throws its hind legs about. We ob- 

 served that they used these hind legs as feelers ; 

 the abdomen is destitute of the saccharine tube 

 of the winged species of the family." The habits 

 of this insect naturally point out to us a remedy 

 against its attacks, by taking the tubers up, and 

 washing them in lime or salt water, and after- 

 wards storing them by for use ; and it is pro- 

 bable that the small ones used for seed, if served 

 in the same way, and immediately planted in a 

 different part of the garden from where they 

 grew, would be secured against their attacks. 



General rema/rhs. — The European names are — ■ 

 Topinambour and Poire de Terre in French; 

 Erde Apfel in German ; Aardpeeren in Dutch ; 

 Girasole in Italian ; Girasol in Spanish. 



§5. 



-EED BEET. 



Natwal History. — Red Beet {Beta vulgaris 

 L., var. rubra) belongs to the natural order Che- 

 nopodese, and to the class Pentandria and order 

 Digynia in the Linnsean arrangement. The 

 generic name is derived from Bett, red, in Celtic, 

 in allusion to the colour of its roots; others 

 ascribe it to the second letter in the Greek alpha- 

 bet, beta, from the fancied resemblance to it of 

 the seed-vessel. The cultivated beets are natives 

 of the south of Europe. The red beet was in- 

 troduced into this country in 1546. One species, 

 Beta maritima, or sea-beet, is a native of our 

 southern sea-shores ; its roots are not valued, 

 but its leaves make a good substitute for spinach, 

 and are used as such. It would appear from 

 Pliny that Sicily is the native country of our 

 cultivated beets, as, in his day, the Greeks were 

 in possession of both a black and white sort : 

 the latter they called Sicilian beet. Few escu- 

 lent plants were held in greater estimation than 

 this by the epicures of ancient Rome. Several 

 varieties have been long, and are still, cultivated 

 on the Continent, for being manufactured into 

 sugar. 



Use. — The roots are the only parts used, and 

 are boiled and stewed, and eaten cold, with vine- 



gar and oil, in slices. They enter into mixed 

 salads, and are much used for garnishing ; and 

 for all these purposes the deeper coloured they 

 are the more they are appreciated. Some, how- 

 ever, it ought to be noticed, prefer them of a 

 bright-red colour, but all must be of fine quality 

 in fibre, solid, and of uniform colour. The 

 roots are also eaten cut into thin slices, and 

 baked in an oven ; dried and ground, they are 

 sometimes mixed with coffee, and are much 

 employed as a pickle. The juice of the roots is 

 sometimes used by young females in the High- 

 lands as an economical rouge. Mixed with dough, 

 it makes a wholesome bread, but for this purpose 

 the white or yellow-rooted sorts are preferred. 

 The roots of all the sorts are better baked than 

 boiled. 



Propagation. — All tlie varieties are 

 produced from seed, ■which vegetates 

 more rapidly if steeped, six or eight 

 hours previous to sowing, in tepid water : 

 when sown in dry soil, without this pre- 

 caution, they are tardy in coming up — a 

 circumstance noticed by Pliny, but rather 

 overstretched by that historian. He says, 

 the seed has " a strange and wonderful 

 quality, for it will not all come up in one 

 year, but some in the first, others in the 

 second, and the rest in the third year." 

 This slowness in vegetating should be 

 taken into consideration, and the seed 

 committed to the ground as recommended 

 for carrots, else the weeds are apt to get 

 ahead of the crop, and so render hoeing 

 more tedious : one ounce of seed wiU sow 

 a drill 150 feet in length. 



Sowing and planting. — Three separate 

 sowings should be made — namely, the first 

 in the last week of March, the second in the 

 second week of April, and the third at 

 the end of that month. If the seed is 

 new, and the spring cold, plants for an 

 earlier sowing would be apt to run to 

 seed, instead of forming bulbs ; yet, in 

 families of distinction, where beet is re- 

 quired all the year, a small sowing should 

 be made in a warm border, about the end 

 of February, or, with much greater suc- 

 cess, on the 1st of March, upon a very 

 slight hot-bed. The London growers " are 

 very particular about the time of sowing 

 it, for one week too soon sown spoils it. 

 It is generally put in about the first week 

 in May; but even with the same seed, 

 and same soil, it makes a great difference 

 if it is transplanted, because, in removing 

 the seedlings, all forked ones are thrown 

 away. In this operation great care must 

 be taken that the points of the roots are 

 not broken off."— Cuthill, p. 26. 



