April, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



171 



bedded in a rather spongy substance, as a 

 close examination will reveal. Unless the 

 soil is pressed into firm contactwith this sub- 

 stance, causing it to decay quickly, you are 

 apt to have a rather long wait for your seed- 

 ling plants, or to get an irregular stand. 



Just as soon as the seedlings are two to 

 three inches tall, thin them out to stand 

 four inches apart in the row. No other 

 vegetable I know (with the possible ex- 

 ception of radishes) so much resents being 

 crowded in the rows as beets. If you 

 want a lot of small beets for boiling as 

 "greens" sow an extra row especially for 

 that purpose. But do not let those rows 

 that are grown for good roots suffer for 

 want of proper thinning early in the de- 

 velopment of the seedlings. A disregard 

 of this factor always becomes noticeable 

 in two ways — the beets develop more 

 slowly and are apt to be "off " in shape. 



Hoe often and thoroughly, and give 

 shallow cultivation. 



TEN GOOD BEETS FOR THE HOME GARDEN 



By way of explanation, let it be said that 

 seed growers talk of "types" in connection 

 with vegetables. If a vegetable comes 

 "true to type" it means that a large per- 

 centage of the finished product comes up 

 to the type to which the grower selected. 

 Applied to beets it means that a good per- 

 centage of the roots of a certain variety 

 should be of about the same shape and color. 



The varieties recommended below repre- 

 sent the best types of beets in their 

 respective classes. For instance, there 

 is a "turnip-shaped" class, a "flat-globe 

 shaped "-class, etc. All these classes are 

 represented by quite a number of varieties, 

 the most dependable of which are recom- 

 mended below. This selection, however, 

 let it be understood, is not arbitrary, since 

 soil, climate and weather conditions are 

 apt to produce quite a change in the be- 

 havior of certain varieties, and, after all, 

 the individual gardener must experiment 

 to some extent to find the ideal selection for 

 his peculiar conditions. 



Some readers may criticise me for put- 

 ting old Eclipse at the head of the list. 

 And yet, there is no other variety so thor- 

 oughbred in that it will come as uniformly 

 true to type. While new varieties of merit 

 cannot have a stronger advocate than my- 

 self, I j, consider it quite as import- 

 ant to Jy give credit to the old ones, 



. Edmands' Blood 



to the perfecting of which, growers have 

 devoted decades of patient toil. 



Eclipse produced beets two inches in 

 diameter in sixty days from date of plant- 

 ing. No doubt this record can be beaten 

 on a lighter soil containing plenty of humus. 

 The roots are of uniformly dark rosy red 

 color, flat globe-shaped and easily pulled. 

 Tops are of uniformly light-green color. 

 Flesh dark purplish red with rose zones. 

 Eclipse remains in good table condition 

 for ten days, when it becomes over-grown 

 and rather tough. While in prime con- 

 dition, the flesh is tender and sweet. 



Crosby's Improved Egyptian is unques- 

 tionally the most widely grown turnip- 

 shaped beet in cultivation to-day and 

 deservedly so. It is only to be regretted 

 that there are so many different "strains" 

 of this on the market which creates quite 

 a confusion in the amateur's mind. Some 

 of the "strains" of Crosby's beet are of 

 almost flat globe-shaped type, while others 

 are decidedly flat turnip-shaped. The 

 happy medium between may be consid- 

 ered an ideal Crosby's Egyptian, which 

 will produce 2-inch beets within two days 

 after Eclipse. Smooth, dark-red roots 

 are topped with light green foliage which is 

 prominently speckled with dark red. The 

 flesh is carmine with white zones and of 

 uniformly sweet quality. 



Detroit Dark Red comes nearer being an 

 ideal beet than any. It is easily the sweet- 

 est of the early sorts and while it is about 

 two days later than Crosby's Egyptian, 

 many people prefer it to Crosby's on 

 account of its handsome globe shape. The 

 round, dark red roots are uniformly 



smooth. The J flesh of the very young 



Crosby's Egyptian. Most widely grown but not of a fixed type 



beets is almost black-red, turning to a 

 dark crimson with dark purple zones 

 as the beets grow larger. When cooked, 

 beets are of an appetizing, dark red 

 color and as sweet as any one can wish a 

 beet to be. If I were limited to one beet, 

 I would want that one to be Detroit 

 Dark Red. 



Electric. This I am tempted to call the 

 most perfect type of the flat turnip-shaped 

 beets. Uniformly flatter than Crosby's 

 and of about the same season as Detroit 

 Dark Red, Electric goes both these favor- 

 ites one better in remaining in excellent 

 table condition for nearly a month. While 

 it is an exceedingly rapid grower up to the 

 time that it becomes two inches in diameter, 

 it is exceedingly slow in growing larger. 

 As the result, four weeks hardly doubles the 

 size of the growing roots which are of sur- 

 prising quality even after they are long 

 over-grown. With outside skin like 

 Crosby's and white-zoned crimson flesh, 

 Electric is a most valuable beet for the 

 man who cannot find time to sow beets 

 every other week. 



Fireball may fitly be described as a 

 globe-shaped Electric. Its essential char- 

 acteristic is its long lasting quality and 

 the flesh is sweet at all stages of de- 

 velopment. This is the latest of the really 

 early beets, producing 2-inch roots in sixty- 

 six days from date of planting. There is 

 a peculiar mellowness about the flavor of 

 cooked Fireball beets, that is hard to beat. 

 Moreover, this delicate flavor is noticeable 

 even in overgrown specimens, which are 

 entirely free from the bitterness that makes 

 many other standard sorts undesirable 

 after they are past their best. 



Crimson Globe is of good globe type and 

 may be termed the dependable midseason 

 sort. In seventy days from date of plant- 

 ing, 25 per cent, of the beets in the Crimson 

 Globe row will be fit for table. A peculiar 

 characteristic of this as well as the next 

 variety is that its roots do not reach the 

 same size all at once, but some grow faster, 

 others slower, while all are of good quality. 

 This point is worthy of consideration from 

 the home planter's standpoint —it length- 

 ens the period of perfection. After the 

 roots become larger than two and a half 



