By Mr. William Morgan. 



appearance, that it is more capable of enduring hard wea- 

 ther. The best Mangel Wurzel exceeds it in size, but if the 

 same pains had been taken in procuring seeds from selected 

 plants of the Yellow Beet, as have been taken with the 

 other, it is probable, that equal success would have atten- 

 ded the experiment, and that we should now have bad a 

 Yellow Beet for field cultivation, as large as the Mangel 

 Wurzel* 



The Beta Cicla, or White Beet and Green Beet, of the 

 English gardens, (the PoirSe of the French), is only cultiva- 

 ted for the sake of its leaves ; the roots, though strong, have 

 no substantial part which can be converted to useful pur- 

 poses ; where they are solid they are hard, and they are 

 usually much divided and forked. 



The French use the thin part of the leaves sometimes to 

 mix with Sorrel, the acidity of which it corrects ; with us it 

 is dressed as a substitute for Spinach, which it resembles, 

 though it is certainly much inferior to it in flavour. The 

 leaves of many of the varieties of the Beta vulgaris have a 

 Spinach-like flavour, but not so good as those of the Beta 

 cicla. The stalks of the leaves of the Beta cicla when peeled, 

 are also used for culinary purposes, they are usually boil- 

 ed and served up in the manner of Asparagus, or Sea Kale, 



* On the same day that this Paper was read to the Society, John Braddick, 

 Esq. exhibited three roots of the large Yellow Beet, grown by him at Thames 

 Ditton, which fully evinced the justness of this opinion ; one of the roots 

 weighed twenty pounds, and the three together weighed fifty-two pounds. 

 They were as large as any root of Mangel Wurzel which I have observed this 

 year, and seemed particularly sound. 



VOL. III. P p 



