Beets—Cabbages# 
57 
around them, and pull out the weakest plants, 
leaving three to each hill. This should be 
done when they are perfectly dry; for beans 
never should be hoed when wet, nor when any 
dew is on them. 
The green pods of beans may be kept and 
preserved fresh by laying them down in a jar 
or tub, with a layer of salt between each layer 
of beans. 
Beet. —Prepare your ground as early in the 
spring as it will work light and mellow, by 
plowing or digging to the depth of eighteen 
inches. A deep, rich soil produces the finest 
roots. If a small bed of the earliest kinds is 
sown as early as the season will admit, they 
will be fit for use in June. After making your 
beds fine and smooth, mark out the drills eight¬ 
een inches apart, and one inch deep; drop the 
seeds along the drills, two inches apart; cover 
them, and press the soil a little over the seeds. 
When the plants are up and sufficiently strong, 
thin them to the distance of six inches apart in 
the rows. The ground should be often hoed 
round the plants, and kept free from weeds. 
Beets for early use, should be sowed about the 
first, of May; for winter use, two or three weeks 
later, the beds kept clean through the summer, 
and the roots taken up before hard frosts in the 
fall. Care should be taken in cutting off the 
tops, not to injure the crown. 
A good method of preserving beets fresh 
Through the winter is, to lay them in a circular 
form on the bottom of the cellar, with the roots 
in the centre and heads outward ; cover the first 
course of roots with moist sand; then lay an¬ 
other course upon them, and cover with sand os 
before, and so on till all are packed and covered. 
The Mangol Wurtzel and Scarcity Beet , 
also the Yellow Sivedish or Ruta baga turnip, 
are often raised to great perfection by field cul¬ 
ture, for 'which we give the following direc¬ 
tions— 
Field culture. Select a deep mellow soil; 
if not sufficiently rich, make it so with well rot¬ 
ted manure, thoroughly mixed with the soil to 
the depth of a foot or more. This should be 
done by plowing and harrowing when the 
ground is in good order to work light -and fine. 
You may then throw up moderate ridges with 
the plow, about the distance of three feet apart. 
Pulverize and level the top of the ridges with a 
rake. Then, with a dibble or with the fingers, 
make holes on the centre of the ridge, two 
inches deep, and eight inches apart; and for 
beets, drop two seeds in each hole, and cover 
with fine dirt, pressing it a little over the seed. 
Swedish or Ruta baga turnip, we generally 
prefer sowing in a bed of light, mellow soil, 
from the 1st to the 10th of July. After having 
attained a sufficient size for transplanting, the 
ground being prepared as above directed for 
beets, set the plants about ten inches apart in the 
row; while the plants are young, the ground 
should be often stirred around them, and kept 
clean from weeds through the season. The 
horse plough, or cultivator, should be often 
used between the rows, especially in dry, hot 
weather. 
The average crop of beets and turnips, on 
good land, with proper management, is about 
fifteen tons, or 560 bushels, to the acre. The 
quantity of seed required for the Mangol Wurt¬ 
zel or scarcity beet, is about four pounds to the 
acre: for the Ruta Baga or Swedish turnip, about 
one pound and a half. To quicken vegetation, 
the beet seed in particular, should be soaked 
twenty-four hours in warm water. * 
There are various methods of field culture 
recommended and practised by different people. 
Some sow the seed broad cast: others in rows 
on level ground, from ten inches to four feet 
apart: some sow or transplant on moderate rid¬ 
ges, and others on very high ridges. 
Cabbage. —This vegetable requires a light, 
rich, and rather moist soil. The seed may be 
sown about the middle of May, either in a bed 
for transplanting, or where they are intended to 
grow. The transplanting should be done when 
the ground is light, just before a shower, or in 
cloudy, moist weather, but never when the 
ground is wet and heavy. Before transplant¬ 
ing, dip the roots into a mixture made of rich 
mould and water. The}? - should be hoed often 
while young, at least twice a week; the best 
time for hoeing is when the dew is on. If lice 
should appear on the plants, wet them with a 
strong decoction of tobacco, put on with a small 
brush, or rubbed on with the hand. 
Cabbage should be secured before very cold 
weather, and their roots^buried in the dirt; but 
never let them rot in a cellar under your dwell¬ 
ing house, unless you wish to destroy the health 
of your family. 
* We would strongly urge the soaking of the tur¬ 
nip seed 48 hours in Tanners’ oil before sowing. The 
oil so strongly impregnates the first leaves of the 
plant, as to keep off the fly, so destructive to it in the 
early stages of its existence. 
Both the beet and turnip for winter feeding, should 
be sown as late as possible, and yet allow the rpots 
time to mature before the severe frosts set in. This 
time must not only depend on latitude, but on the 
season, soil, exposure', &c. &c., which can only be 
determined from actual experiments by each farmer 
for himself. It should always, however, be done be¬ 
fore the dry, summer weather commences, so as to 
allow the plants to get a good start and partially shade 
the ground. From 15th May to 10th June for beets, 
and from 20th May to 25th June, is the proper time 
for sowing the Ruta Baga. 
