Beta vulgaris, var. 
Mangolt was the old German name for the Chard, or rather for 
the beet species, but in recent times it has become apphed to a 
large growing root of the beet kind, used for forage purposes. In 
the selections size and the perfection of the root above ground 
have been important elements, as well as the desire for novelty, 
and hence we have a large number of very distinct appearing 
sorts, — the long red, about two-thirds above ground, the olive 
shaped or oval, the globe, and the flat-bottomed Yellow d'Oben- 
dorf. The colors to be noted are the red, the yellow, and the 
white. The size often obtained in single specimens is enormous; 
a weight of 135 pounds^** has been claimed in California, and Gas- 
parin in France vouches for a root weighing 132 pounds.^" 
I have ascertained very little concerning the history' of man- 
golds. They certainly are of modern introduction. Olivier de 
Serres'*' in France, 1629, describes a red beet which was cultivated 
for cattle-feeding, and speaks of it as a recent acquisition from 
Italy. In England it is said to have arrived from Metz'*' in 1786, 
but I find a book advertised of which the following is the title : — 
Culture and use of the Mangel Wurzel, a Root of Scarcity, trans- 
lated from the French of the Abbe de Commerell, by J. C. 
Lettsom, with colored plates, third edition, 1787,''* — by which it 
would appear that it was known earlier. McMahon'^"* records it in 
American culture in 1806. Vilmorin describes sixteen kinds, and 
mentions many others. 
The beet is one of the plants most easy to improve by selection, 
as the experience of Vilmorin proves, as well as the more per- 
fected varieties which are constantly being advertised. I doubt 
not but that the prototypes of all the distinct forms could be 
found in nature, but unfortunately I find no descriptions which I 
