BEET. 



159 



seed in the rows to distinguish them. The radishes will 

 be np in a week, and the ground can be hoed or weeded 

 without any danger of destroying the young plants ; and 

 pulling the radishes is cultivation to the young crop. 

 Drills can also be made between every two rows of beets, 

 making a drill every six inches, which can also be sown 

 with radishes or lettuce plants. 



I would never think of making beds exclusirely for lettuce 

 plants or radishes, as these can be grown between other 

 vegetables without the loss of any room. But the ground 

 must be very rich, as all garden soil should be, to bring 

 forward both crops to perfection. 



For early beets it is well to prepare a good bed under 

 glass in which the rows should be marked out a foot apart. 

 The ground should be deeply spaded and thoroughly 

 manured. Mark out your rows for the beets, and between 

 the first two draw a drill in which you can sow your early 

 York cabbage ; between the next two you can raise all the 

 butter lettuce you wish to set out for heading. In the 

 rows of beets themselves you may sprinkle a a few radish 

 seed ; then a row of later head lettuce, tomatoes, egg-plant, 

 peppers, &;c. The drills retained for the beets should be 

 sown in this climate with the Bassano beet about the tenth 

 of January. By the time the hard frosts are over, the 

 beets, cabbages, &c., will be fit to transplant. Thin out 

 to six inches apart, planting out those pulled up in the 

 open ground. In transplanting the beet a deep hole should 

 be made with a dibble, and the root not bent. Those that 

 remain in the bed will soon come into use, and by the time 

 they are gone the transplanted ones will come on for a 

 succession. For very late beets, sow in a cool, moist 

 place early in April ; May or June would be still better, 

 if the sowings were not so difficult to keep from being killed 

 by the sun. Press the earth on the seed, and shade 



