72G 
Crops for Pickling and Preserving. 
if ever, is the whole crop grown exclusively for podding for 
pickling purposes, so that it is impossible to say what quantity of 
pods are grown per acre ; but the average yield of seed is about 
20 bushels per acre, and the pods are very large in proportion to 
the quantity of seed contained in them. The seed is difficult to 
thresh ; and, all things considered, it is not a very popular 
crop. 
Nasturtiums. — Nasturtiums are so commonly grown for the 
sake of their foliage and blossom that the value of the unripe 
fruits for salads or for pickling is frequently lost sight of. 
Whilst the blooms have been improved by selection, the seed 
has not suffered. Capers are considered a more suitable accom- 
paniment to boiled mutton ; but they are expensive, and com- 
paratively out of reach of some people, who find pickled nastur- 
tiums make a very palatable substitute. They are so common 
that they are rarely grown on a large scale ; but as a poor man's 
pickle they are by no means to be despised. In some districts 
they are used in salads, or placed in slices between pieces of 
bread and butter, as sandwiches, and are highly esteemed. Any 
odd piece of land can be utilised for growing them ; and as 
there are both giant and dwarf varieties, they can be selected to 
suit circumstances. If planted in the spring, the green fruits 
are fit to pick in the early autumn ; but they should not be 
allowed to get too old. 
Beet. — This is a product which is not pickled to a very great 
extent ; but a considerable quantity is worked up, the greater 
part being done by housekeepers, instead of by large pickle- 
merchants, as is the case with most of the crops previously men- 
tioned. The sale of beet is therefore effected in small quantities, 
as it is generally retailed from the markets, or dispensed by green- 
grocers. There is nothing strikingly different in the cultivation ot 
beet and of mangel, except that beet must be planted closer to- 
gether. The rows are drilled about 18 inches apart, and the plants 
are set out 6 to 8 inches apart in the rows. Perhaps beet may not 
be considered quite so much a crop of the heavier loams on 
which mangel will flourish ; but on almost any land where 
there is a fair depth of soil, free from superabundant moisture, 
it may be easily grown. If the land is not clean, it is carefully 
forked in the autumn to remove couch, and then ploughed over 
to a good depth. Dung is generally applied in winter or spring, 
so that it may be well worked in during the tillages, in order to 
obtain the necessary tilth, the soil being in readiness for drilling 
by the beginning of May. About 11 lb. of seed are required 
