Beetroot

“ Salad of Eggs.—With alternate rows of sliced eggs and either tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, or beetroot, and a salad-seasoning composed of oil and vinegar or cream, a dozen different salads may be prepared, each of which constitutes an excellent hors-d’œuvre. ”

“ It precedes barley, wheat, rye, and oats, and prepares the soil in a marvelous manner for cereals, the subsequent fertilization of which prepares the soil for the beet. The land must not receive fertilizing treatment during the season of the growth of the beet-root, but must be well prepared—not too light, not too moist; it should be warm, rich in humus, deep and free from stones, like a garden. The form of the beet desired for greater sugar extraction would, with this physical condition, be long and tapering. ”

“ In a single morning, cucumbers will be mixed with each other, and with canteloupes; squashes will be crossed, and in the next generation will show it. Where the organs of flowers are protected, as in the pea, bean, etc., by a floral envelope, insects do not mix their pollen. I have never known pure beet seed raised in a private garden which had more than the single kind in it—or when another garden was near which had other sorts.
We prefer, generally, northern seeds to those raised elsewhere. A mere change of soil and climate is often advantageous to seeds. ”

“ Beet.—The turnip-rooted blood beet should be sown for the earliest crop; the long blood beet for the late crop, and for winter use. The blood beet is the proper garden beet. The scarcity, the sugar beets (so called) , white, yellow, and red, are inferior for table use. Every year we see accounts of new varieties, which are seldom mentioned a second time, while these old standard sorts hold their own from year to year. We see people running around among their neighbors for beet-seed, careless whether it is early or late, coarse fleshed or fine grained, sweet or insipid. ”

“ Beets make a strong draft on some components of the soil, and it is a common experience that they should not be grown year after year for a long period, but should take their place in a rotation, in the course of which one or two crops of beets should be followed by a crop of grain, and that if possible by a leguminous plant like alfalfa or an annual legume like burr clover used for pasturage, and then to beets again. Beets improve soil for grain, because of the deep running of the root, and because beet culture is not profitable without deep plowing and continuous summer cultivation. ”

“ These are quite lovely in the flower garden. Where one wishes a vine, this is good to plant for one gets both a vegetable, bright flowers and a screen from the one plant. When planting beans put the bean in the soil edgewise with the eye down.
"Beets like rich, sandy loam, also. Fresh manure worked into the soil is fatal for beets, as it is for many another crop. But we will suppose that nothing is available but fresh manure. Some gardeners say to work this into the soil with great care and thoroughness. But even so, there is danger of a particle of it getting next to a tender beet root. ”

“ Bean plants are not troubled by insects to any extent, but they are sometimes attacked by blight. When this occurs, do not plant the same ground to beans again for a year or two.
Beet.—This vegetable is grown for its thick root, and for its herbage (used as “greens”) ; and ornamental-leaved varieties are sometimes planted in flower-gardens.
Being one of the hardiest of spring vegetables, the seed may be sown as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. A light, sandy soil is the best on which to grow beets to perfection, but any well-tilled garden land will raise satisfactory crops. ”

“ This is due to the intensive cultivation of the beets and to the humus left in the ground in the form of rootlets. Experience has taught the farmer that no other crop is so beneficial to the soil as beets grown in the right rotation and with proper care.
THINNING
As soon as the beets are up and the rows clearly defined, thinning becomes necessary. This is one of the most important features of beet culture and is a tedious and expensive operation. It consists of cutting out the plants so that individual roots remain, spaced about eight inches apart. ”

“ In order to hasten the season of the extra-early crop of Beets, the seeds may be sown in boxes or in the soil of a hotbed in February or March, transplanting the small plants to the open ground at the time the first sowing of seed is made. As the flat or turnip-rooted varieties grow at the surface of the ground, the seed may be sown thickly, and as the more advanced roots are large enough to use they may be pulled, leaving room for the later ones to develop, thus growing a quantity in a small area and having a long season of small Beets from one sowing. ”

“ Preparation of Ground.—The cultivation of Beet is of the most simple nature, but a certain amount of care is requisite for the production of a handsome and profitable crop. Beet will make a fair return on any soil that is properly prepared for it; but to grow this root to perfection a rich light loam is necessary, free from any trace of recent or strong manure. A rank soil, or one to which manure has been added shortly before sowing the seed, will produce ugly roots, some coarse with overgrowth, others forked and therefore of little value, and others, perhaps, cankered and worthless. ”

“ The method of cultivating the Beet Root here recommended, is the same as that which is used in the cultivation of turnips, in Northumberland and other parts of the north, with this exception, that the rows there are 27 inches apart. 43There may be reasons in the north for still preferring that space, but in Essex the effect of it, in the cultivation of Beet Root, would be, that, instead of 48 tons per acre, 43 tons only would be obtained. Experience has proved, that the roots do not get to a larger size in rows 3 feet apart, than they do in rows 2 feet apart. ”

“ The fact that there is only one main root does not prove anything. An annual plant has only one stem, but a perennial species has many. The average height of the last is a [817] reliable character, but the casual height of the former is very uncertain.
So it is with the beets. A beet may be divided by its buds and give quite a number of roots, belonging to the same individual. These secondary roots have been tested for the amount of sugar, and found to exhibit a manifest degree of variability. ”

“ This thoroughly decayed stable-manure has become the best of plant-food; it warms the ground, and carries the germinating seed and young plants with vigor through the first cold, wet weeks.
In the home garden there are several reasons for sowing beet-seed thickly. Unfavorable weather and insects will be less apt to cause a thin, broken stand of plants. In order to produce good roots, however, the plants should be thinned out so as to stand eventually three or four inches apart I do not advise very large, coarse roots for the table. For home use I think only three varieties are essential. ”

“ Beet seed germinates easily in moist, cool soil. A single sowing may be harvested from June through early March the next year. If properly thinned, good varieties remain tender.
Spacing: A single row will gradually exhaust subsoil moisture from an area 4 feet wide. When the seedlings are 2 to 3 inches tall, thin carefully to about 1 inch apart. When the edible part is radish size, thin to 2 inches apart and eat the thinings, tops and all. When they've grown to golfball size, thin to 4 inches apart, thin again. When they reach the size of large lemons, thin to 1 foot apart. ”

“ It is done by some because others do it; those who attempt to reason, say, that if a root be broken it immediately puts out many more from the point of breakage; and the practice of root-pruning fruit-trees is cited, to show that the fruitfulness of a plant is increased by reducing the root and checking the growth of the wood. It is not true that the fruitfulness of a tree is increased by root-pruning, but, it is made to yield its fruit earlier. It is a device to bring trees rapidly into bearing. ”

“ Beets intended for winter storage should not be sown until late in the summer, the crop being harvested and stored in the same manner as turnips. Sugar beets are often substituted for the ordinary garden beet, especially for winter use.
A soil that is well adapted to growing the usual vegetables will be found good for this one. It may be slightly heavier than that for the crops that are grown for their foliage, as lettuce. A good cabbage soil will be found of about the right consistency. Wet or soggy land will not raise a crop. Plow deep and prepare the ground well ”

“ Fig. 298. A window plant that is easy to grow. It is a common garden beet. The end of the beet was cut off so that it could be got into the tin can. A very red beet will produce handsome red-ribbed leaves. In all cases, be sure that the crown or top of the plant has not been cut off too close, or the leaves may not start readily. The beet starts into growth quickly and the growing plant will stand much abuse. It makes a very comely plant for the school-room window. Try carrot, turnip, and parsnip in the same way. ”

“ Dig a trench about a foot deep, spread a thin layer of manure in this, cover it with soil, and plant above this. By the time the main root strikes down to the manure layer, there will be little harm done. Beets should not be transplanted. If the rows are one foot apart there is ample space for cultivation. Whenever the weather is really settled, then these seeds may be planted. Young beet tops make fine greens. Greater care should be taken in handling beets than usually is shown. When beets are to be boiled, if the tip of the root and the tops are cut off, the beet bleeds. ”

“ Some quite artistic effects can be secured in the vegetable-garden by the exercise of a little thought. The large-leaved beet has foliage of a dark, rich crimson quite as ornamental as that of many plants used by gardeners to produce the "tropical effects" [82] which many persons admire. When planted in the background, with fine-foliaged plants like carrot or parsley in front of it, the effect will be extremely pleasing because of the contrast of color, and also of habit. ”

“ The most important of them are forage-beets and sugar-beets. They are, of course, cultivated only as biennials, but some annual specimens may be seen each year and in nearly every field. They arise from the same seed as the normal individuals, and their number is obviously dependent on external conditions, and especially on the time of sowing. Ordinary cultures often show as much as 1% of these useless plants, but the exigencies of time and available labor often compel the cultivator to have a large part of his fields sown before spring. ”

“ In the second place the young seedling is affected during the development of its crown of leaves, and of its roots, by numerous factors, which cannot change this average, but may induce deviations from it, increasing or decreasing the amount of sugar, which will eventually be laid down in the root. The best young beet may be injured in many ways during periods of its lifetime, and produce less sugar than could reasonably be expected from it. It may be surpassed by beets of inferior constitution, but growing under more favorable circumstances. ”

“ The common white beet has many great leaves next the ground, somewhat large and of a whitish green colour. The stalk is great, strong, and ribbed, bearing great store of leaves upon it, almost to the very top of it: The flowers grow in very long tufts, small at the end, and turning down their heads, which are small, pale greenish, yellow, buds, giving cornered prickly seed. The root is great, long, and hard, and when it has given seed is of no use at all. ”

“ The root and a little of the lower stalk is from a seed, and upon this has been grafted or spliced with soft bands and wax, a bud from some choice kind of peach or apple or plum, or whatever the tree is to be, and this new bud grows and forms the tree. Sometimes a bud of the choice kind is merely inserted beneath the bark of another tree and grows and forms a new limb. By and by, when it bears fruit, the fruit will be of the kind that was on the choice tree, but the seed, though it looks just the same, may be altogether different. ”

“ Tree, medium sized, spreading; wood stronger than the yellow belle fleur, healthy, ripens its wood early, but liable to after-growth in warm falls, and therefore subject to frost-blight. The tree, from its habit of growth, more liable to split and break under a full crop than any tree of the orchard. One of the youngest bearers in the nursery; fruitful to a fault. Grafted on the root it kills off in winter; buds well and forms a top without difficulty. Fruit above medium and sometimes very large; color, greenish white, and, in some seasons with a blush on the sunny side ”

“ As soon as the plants are visible, ply the hoe to keep down weeds and thin the crop slightly to prevent crowding anywhere. The thinning should be carried on from time to time until the plants are a foot apart; or if the ground is strong and large roots are required, they may be allowed fifteen inches. Good-quality roots may be grown on the worst types of clay and on stony soils by boring holes and filling them in with fine earth, in the manner described for Beet and Carrot. ”

“ No root can live and grow without food from the leaf; if the tops be permitted to root, so much nutriment is subtracted from the tubers as is diverted to these new roots. Those who are best skilled in their cultivation, raise their vines up so as to detach the roots, but do not twist them round the hill; which, by crushing or covering the leaves, would render the vines unhealthy. As to vines of the Cucurbitacæ, their fruit not being under ground, it is not necessary that such an amount of prepared sap should go to the root as if tubers were formed. ”