l6o THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



any one with a garden can raise for himself. Some 

 are red, some white, some banded red and white, 

 when cut across. Some are yellow, some banded 

 yellow and red. 



To avoid the stringiness that one sometimes 

 finds in beets, the gardener plants his seed in rich, 

 deep soil, and keeps his plants growing rapidly. 

 By weeding and hoeing, he keeps the soil in good 

 condition, and saves the moisture in it. Water- 

 ing is necessary in dry weather. Then he must 

 not forget to thin them as the plants become 

 crowded, and to pull them when they are in the best 

 condition — not to leave them past their tender 

 stage. 



The common ways of cooking beets are boiling 

 and baking. More commonly we boil them for 

 later use in salads, and pickled. Baked beets 

 have a deeper color, and firmer texture than boiled 

 ones. In no case should the skin be broken. 

 The stubs of the leaves should be left on, the beets 

 scrubbed with a brush and rinsed. Then no loss 

 of sugar, flavor or color will be suffered in cooking, 

 and skin and leaf stubs will slip off easily before 

 the slicing. 



Besides the garden beets, a race of coarse-fleshed 

 but very nutritious beets, called mangel-zvurzels, 

 are grown as a field crop to feed to stock. They 



