BEET. 



41 



^jepth as above. Or you may sow the seed on a piece of 

 ground, rougli, after being dug, and rake it well in." 



Subsequent culture. — When the young plants are advanced 

 into leaves, one, two, or three inches in growth, they must 

 be thinned and cleared from weeds, especially those sown 

 promiscuously, or broad-cast and in drills. If there be 

 chasms in the rows, fill them up with the superfluous plants. 

 The often er the ground is stirred, during the whole course 

 of the vegetation of the plant, the larger will be the product, 

 and the better its quality. 



As soon as vegetation is over, which always occurs after 

 the first hard frost, take up the plants, expose them a day 

 or two to the air, to evaporate their surplus moisture, and 

 then house them carefully. This may be done by putting 

 them in layers in a dry cellar, and interposing between these 

 a slight covering of sand. In digging the roots, great care 

 should be taken that they be not broken nor cut, as they 

 bleed much. For the same reason, the leaves should be 

 cut off at least an inch above the solid part of the root. 



To save seed, — Either leave a few strong roots standing 

 in the rows, or select a few, and transplant them to a spot 

 where there will be no danger, when in flower, of being im- 

 pregnated with any other variety. They will shoot up the 

 second year, when their flower-stocks should be tied tQ 

 stakes, to prevent their breaking over. 



Field culture of the mangel wurtzel beet^ and the sugar beet. 

 — Soil and preparation, — The soil for these roots should be 

 a loam, inclining to clay, in good tilth, well manured, and 

 made fine to a good depth. John Hare Powel, Esq., cor- 

 responding secretary to the Pennsylvania Agricultural So- 

 ciety, in giving an account of his mode of cultivating this 

 crop, says, " My soil was not naturally strong : it has been 

 gradually so much deepened as to enable Wood's plough, 

 No. 2, drawn by four oxen, to plough fourteen inches deep 

 Fresh barn-yard manure was equally spread upon the sur- 

 face, and ploughed under in the early part of April, in quan- 

 tities not larger than are generally used for potato crops in 

 this country. Early in May, the land was twice stirred with 

 Beatson's scarifier, harrowed, rolled ; after stirred, harrowed 

 and rolled again in the opposite direction." The soil ox^ 

 which Messrs. Tristram Little and Henry Little of New- 

 bury, Mass. raised their premium crop in 1824, is a day 

 4 * 



