118 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULI^URAL SOCU^t^. 



Dodoens' " History of Plants," for he thus writes: "There be two 

 sorts of Beetes, the white and the red, and of the red sort there are two 

 kinds, the one having leaves and root like to the White Beete ; the other 

 hath a great thicke roote, and is a stranger among us. . . . It is very 

 well like to a Bape or Turnep, but very red within and sweeter in taste 

 than any of the other two sorts. . . . The roote of the Eomane or 

 strange red Beete is boyled and eaten with oyle and vinegar before 

 other meates, and sometimes with pepper, as they vse the common 

 parsenep. " 



Lobel (1576) also distinguished the turnip-rooted as another kind 

 besides the white- and black-leaved sorts. He describes the root as 

 " within and without wholly red, suffused with bloody gore, sweeter 

 to the taste." Lobel gives the following names: — White Betis 

 (English) ; Weissert Mangolt (German) ; Eedde Betis (English) ; Eote 

 Mangolt (German); Eoode Beete (Belgium). 



Gerard (1597) says he received from Master Lete, a merchant, 

 " from beyonde the seas a bete with leaves very great and red of 

 colour, as well as the roote, full of a perfect purple juice tending to 

 rednesse; the middle ribbe of which leaves are for the most part verie 

 broad and thicke. It grew with me 1596 to the height of viii cubites, 

 and did bring foorth his rough and vneeuen seede very plentifully; 

 with which plant nature doth seeme to plaie and sport hirselfe; for the 

 seedes taken from that plant which was altogither of one colour and 

 sowen, doth bring foorth plants of many and variable colours. This 

 great and beautifull Beete may be vsed in winter for a sallade herbe 

 with vinegar, oile and salt, and is not only pleasant to the taste, but 

 also delightf ull to the eie. 



That the root was not generally eaten as well as the foliage appears 

 from the following from Gerard's " Herball " (1597) : " What might be 

 made of the red and beautifull roote (which is to be preferred before 

 the leaves, as well in beautie as in goodnesse), I referre vnto the curious 

 and cunning cooke, who no doubt when he hath had the view therof, 

 and is assured that it is both good and holsome, will make thereof many 

 and divers dishes both faire and good " (see Chard). 



Of modern varieties in cultivation, one is the White or Sicilian 

 Beet, B. Cicla, L. It is a native of Sicily, Spain, and Portugal, and 

 was introduced in 1570. The large White or Swiss Ghard Beet, a 

 variety oi the last, is peculiar for its thick ribs. It is stewed like sea- 

 kale or asparagus. 



Professor James Buckman regarded both the garden beet and 

 mangold wurzel as derived from the maritime variety — B. maritima, L. 

 The various colours intensified in cultivated, ornamental forms may 

 be detected in the wild plants. The sugar beet is also a selected form 

 of the ordinary red-rooted beet. 



Wild beet is a perennial (fig. 54), but both it and mangold wurzel 

 have become biennials by cultivation. Mr. D. Macdonald tells us in 

 his ' ' Some Farm Crops ' ' that beet * ' does not appear to have been 

 brought into general use as an agricultural crop in England until the 

 end of the eighteenth century," being introduced from Germany as 



