VEGETABLES — DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 185 



plied while preparing the ground, as it keeps it moist. It 

 is singular that a plant of so easy culture, and yielding 

 during the entire season after May a supply of the most 

 delicate greens, has not come into more general cultivation. 



For Seed. — Select a few of the finest looking roots, 

 those smooth and well-shaped. Plant the different vari- 

 eties as far apart as possible ; indeed, it is better to save the 

 seed of only one kind the same year for fear of intermix- 

 ture and degeneracy. Keep them free from weeds, and 

 tie the seed stalks to stakes to support them. Gather and 

 dry the seed as soon as ripe, and put away in paper bags. 

 Keep dry, and it will be good for ten years. 



Use. — The young and tender tops of the common beet, 

 and the leaves and stalks of the chards, are boiled as sum- 

 mer greens, or of the latter the midrib and stalk may be 

 peeled and boiled separately from the rest of the leaf and 

 prepared as asparagus, for which they are an excellent 

 substitute. In gathering, the largest outside leaves should 

 first be taken, and the inner ones left to increase in size, 

 taking care to gather them while still perfectly green and 

 vigorous. 



When common beets are thinned, the young beets pulled 

 up, if cooked, tops and bottoms, are very sweet and deli- 

 cate. When well grown, the roots give an agreeable va- 

 riety to our table vegetables, being tender, sweet, and 

 considerably nourishing. They also make an excellent 

 pickle. If eaten moderately, they are wholesome, but in 

 too large a quantity produce flatulence and indigestion. 



When old, the addition of a little powdered sugar to 

 the roots, when prepared for the table, restores some of 

 their lost sweetness. The leaves are said to abound in 

 nitre ; the roots are full of sugar, and a variety, the Sugar 

 Beet, is largely cultivated in France for its manufacture. 



