80 PICTORIAL PRACTICAL VEGETABLE GROWING. 



Cbapfer il— Beetroot 



In the Garden Beet, Beta vulgauis, we have a highly developed 

 vegetable, the making of which has given our seedsmen no small 

 amount of trouble. It and the Mangold AYarzel of the fields, Beta 

 vulgaris macrorhiza, are closely related ; in fact, the latter may be 

 described as simply a large-rooted form, and herein lies the danger. 



Get a poor strain of Beetroot seed from your seedsman, sow it a 

 little too early, have the soil too rank, and behold ! in your garden 

 plot is a patch of roots that every more fortunate gardener in the 

 neighbourhood sniggers at— roots which certainly ought to be out 

 among the ]\Iangolds in the fields. 



In their laudable anxiety to give us good strains the seedsmen 

 have chosen small-rooted types. These they have selected and re- 

 selected with great care. If one hits the right time to sow, and has 

 the ground in proper order, these selections give roots of 9 inches to 

 1 foot long, about 3 inches through at the shoulder, and tapering 

 evenly down. Such roots are quite large enough for anj^body. There 

 is, however, one little difficulty with these small Beets. The grower 

 sows at a period which experience teaches him is about right in the 

 average of years, yet a very dry season may upset his calculations, 

 and leave the roots only half developed. 



As showing the force of this point, and the difi'erence in " strain," 

 I may say that with so well known a Beet as Cheltenham Green-top 

 I have had extraordinary variations in quality in different seasons 

 and with difi'erent seedsmen, but with the same soil. Thus, one year 

 the roots have been models of shape and refinement, and the next 

 as coarse as any Mangold. 



. It is not by any means so easy a matter as some armchair-and- 

 inkpot gardeners would have us believe to get a perfect crop of 

 Beet year after year. It is wise to allow for variability of season by 

 sowing long Beet twice, the first at the end of April, the second at 

 the middle of ^lay. Further, it is judicious to sow two varieties, 

 instead of relying upon one only. 



As regards seedsmen, the prominent firms are to b? relied upon 

 as a rule, and sometimes one gets the best of results from the local 

 man— but not always. If a grower finds a variety and a seedsman 

 reliable he should stick to both. 



In my early gardening days the popular Beets were Nutting's 

 Dwarf lied, Pine Apple, and Whyte's Black. At the end of the 

 'seventies the first-named had a great vogue, and it is by no means 

 played out now. Dell's Crimson appeared on the scene, however, 

 and eftected a little revolution. It is still ])robably the most popular 

 Beetroot grown. Pragnell's Exhibition followed DclFs, and it is a 



