122 
THE BEET,, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE POTATO. 
inclement, and the spring naturally a backward 
one, the beginning of April will be soon 
enough ; but if otherwise, the fourth week in 
March may be selected for the purpose. The 
seeds are to be sown in drills, drawn about two 
inches deep ; the early variety being a small 
grower, one foot will be space enough between 
the rows ; the seeds should be dropped two or 
three together at regular distances in the drills, 
about ten inches apart, only one plant being 
ultimately allowed to remain. After sowing, 
the seed is to be carefully covered over about 
one inch deep with fine soil. If the season be 
a dry one, the seed may be soaked in milk- 
warm water before sowing it, to assist germi- 
nation ; but if a wet one, this will not be 
necessary. 
The main early sowing may be made after 
the middle of April, in the way above de- 
scribed; only for the larger sorts two feet must 
be allowed between the rows ; and for the 
other intermediate varieties eighteen inches. 
For the large sorts, from twelve to fifteen 
inches may also be allowed in the row. The 
main sowing for winter storing, may be made 
about the beginning of May, in a similar way. 
When the seeds have fairly germinated 
the surface of the ground should receive a 
deep hoeing, and at the same time, the plants 
should be thinned out, leaving one only — the 
strongest — of each patch. Blanks, if any 
should exist, may be filled up by carefully 
transplanting some of the supernumerary plants. 
The hoeing must be repeated during fine dry 
weather, at intervals of two or three weeks; 
and as the plants increase in size, the soil may 
be slightly drawn towards them. No other 
culture is required. 
When the plants have attained considerable 
size, with a full head of leaves, part of the 
latter may be taken off for feeding live stock : 
it is a portion of the lower ones that may thus 
be removed, about a third in quantity of those 
on the plants ; they are to be gathered off, 
nut cut. The whole piece may be gathered 
from in this way ; and subsequently, when an 
increase of growth has been made, the same 
process may be repeated once or twice. It 
must not be carried to excess. 
The early sowing will have attained matu- 
rity in August, and will even have been fit 
for use much earlier. The roots may be used 
when they have attained a diameter of two or 
three inches, and have acquired some degree 
of solidity. Whatever of the crop may re- 
main unused by the period of its maturity, 
may be taken up and stored for immediate 
use, the roots requiring to be lifted without 
being bruised, and the tops carefully twisted 
off above the crown. The roots may be 
slightly dried, and then stored away, among 
dry sand or earth, in a cool place. The other 
sowings, as they attain maturity, are to be 
similarly treated. The late crops are to be 
taken up about the end of October, in the 
same careful manner, and also stored among 
some dry material, in a cool place, free from 
frost ; or buried in heaps of soil, as other 
roots are kept. 
The beets are sportive plants ; it is there- 
fore desirable to obtain and secure varieties of 
genuine character. 
P reparation. — As a vegetable, the beet- 
root is cooked by boiling till it becomes per- 
fectly tender ; it is then nutritious and 
agreeable, having a somewhat sweet flavour, 
perhaps rather over sweet for some palates. 
Another mode is to bake them in the mould, 
as they are dug up or stored, or roast them in 
wood ashes ; and some prefer this mode. 
But the best mode is to clean them without 
bruising, then to enclose them in a crust of 
flour and water, and bake them : when they 
are done the crust is removed. The roots 
must not be bruised, as this admits the escape 
of the juices ; neither must they be laid in 
water, as this renders them insipid. When the 
leaves are used as spinach, they are to be 
gathered and boiled in the usual way. 
The most important domestic application of 
beet-root is that of entering into the compo- 
sition of bread. In this country the experi- 
ment of mixing rasped red beet-root with equal 
quantities of flour, has been found to produce 
good bread, very similar to brown bread in 
taste and appearance. The pale-coloured 
sugar-beet would yield a whiter bread, 
of even better quality. The following is the 
formula which has been employed : — To one 
stone of Beet-root, boiled till it becomes soft, 
and well mashed, is added one stone (equal 
parts) of wheaten flour : the dough is then 
baked with yeast in the ordinary way. The 
addition of half an ounce of bread soda, to one 
stone (141bs.) of the dough, answers the pur- 
pose of yeast in making the bread light, whole- 
some, and nutritious. The same mixture is 
suitable for making griddle bread. 
M. Payen, however, a distinguished chemist, 
regards 33 per cent, of beet-root as the most 
convenient proportion in the composition of 
bread; and his researches show that this mix- 
ture is scarcely inferior to pure wheaten bread, 
in the amount of nitrogen it contains; nitrogen 
being the chief nourishing principle of bread. 
He states, that " in 100 parts of bread formed 
of 67 wheaten flour and 33 beet-root, and 100 
parts formed of pure flour, the difference in 
this respect is considerably less than 1 per 
cent. (0,65)." This slight deficiency in nutri- 
tive qualities it is proposed to make good by 
the addition of a small quantity — not enough 
to affect the palatableness of the bread — of 
beans or peas, both of which are rich in nitro- 
