OF ONE ACKE. 
51 
BEETS. 
Seed of these should be sown when the first plant¬ 
ing is done in the spring. They may be had still 
earlier by planting the seed in a hotbed while the 
ground is still frozen, and transplanting them to the 
garden a week or so after the cabbage and lettuce 
have been planted out. Care must be taken in trans¬ 
planting the young beets, that the tap-root does not 
get broken, or it will make a number of fibrous roots 
instead of the large, smooth globe desired for the 
table. When the seed is well up, the plants should 
be thinned out until they stand six or ten inches 
apart, as the size of the variety demands. A second 
sowing should be made about June 1st, and the main 
sowing about the 15th of July or 1st of August, to 
raise roots for winter use. These frequent sowings 
are necessary to have the beets of fine quality; as the 
roots get older and larger they become “ woody/’ or 
hard and fibrous, and exceedingly tasteless. Where 
the season is short, or there are prospects of a dry 
fall, the second sowing should be large enough to 
produce the winter crop, as the later one may fail 
to mature in time. The beets may be stored and the 
flavor retained by the method described for pitting 
turnips, and will keep in good order until spring. 
The Bassano and other light beets are of quick 
growth and are tender and palatable while young, 
but are of coarse texture and not nearly so fine in 
appearance when cooked as the blood beets. The 
blood beets retain their deep, rich color, while all the 
light-leaved or light-stemmed varieties are colorless, 
or nearly so, when cooked. It certainly adds to the 
