246 
VEGETARLE GARDENING 
systems of cropping. (See Figure 63.) The fleshy ’eaves 
of the garden type are used extensively for greens and 
the roots are valued for pickling or for cooking. 
319. Soil. — There are very few American gardens in 
which beets are not grown to some extent for the home 
table. While this is true, certain soil characteristics are 
essential when the enterprise is to be undertaken on a 
large commercial scale, especially when the product is 
to be sold on an open market in competition with beets 
grown under ideal conditions. 
Although oval and turnip-shaped beets are shallow 
feeders, a fairly deep, moist, but well-drained soil is ap- 
parently necessary for all varieties. The sandy loams 
are best suited for this crop, especially when earliness is 
an important factor. When grown in heavy soils the 
beets besides being unsymmetrical in form, develop a 
large number of fibrous laterals, objectionable from both 
market and culinary standpoints. Clover sods, green 
manures and stable manures greatly improve the physical 
condition of heavy soils, but in such soils beets cannot be 
expected to produce as fine roots as in soils better 
adapted to them. Favorable market conditions, how- 
ever, may make the crop remunerative under adverse 
soil conditions. 
320. Climatic requirements. — The beet thrives best 
in the cooler parts of the country; hence the crop is 
more important in the North than in the South. When 
planted southward, advantage is taken of the moderate 
temperatures of early spring. Although the plants are 
comparatively hardy, frost sometimes injures or even 
kills the very early plantings and the crop must be 
harvested and protected before severe freezing weather 
in the fall. 
321. Varieties. — Twenty-three varieties of beets were 
described by Goff (Sixth Report of the New York Sta- 
tion, pp. 120-132). They are grouped under four general 
