The rows a foot apart, and the plants eight inches apart in the rows. In order to hasten the seed up in the spring (if sown then) soak it four days and nights in rain water before you sow it.



Put it two inches deep, cover it well, and press the earth hard down upon it. Sow the seed pretty thick all along the drill; and, when the plants come up, thin them to eight inches apart.

Hoe between the plants frequently: but, not very deep; because these tap rooted things are apt to fork if the ground be made loose very low down while they are growing.

There are yellow and white Beets, as well as red; but the red is the true kind: the others are degenerate. There is, however, round or turnip rooted, red beet, which is equally good with the tap rooted red beet.

The ground should be rich, but not fresh dunged. Ashes of wood, or compost mould, is best; and the digging ought to be very deep and all the clods ought to be broken into fine earth; because the clods turn the point of the root aside, and make the tap short, or forked.

Fresh dung, which, of course, lies in unequal quantities in the ground, invites the tap root, or some of the side roots to it, and thus causes a short or forked beet, which, for several reasons, is not so good as a long and smooth one.

As to the preserving of beets during the winter, it is well known, that the way is to put them in a dry cellar, with dry sand between them, or indeed, without sand or any thing at all between them.

They may, if in large quantities, and not wanted till spring, be preserved out of doors, thus: Take them up three weeks before the hard frost is to come. Cut off their leaves; let them lay two or three days upon straw, or boards, to dry in the sun; then lay a little straw upon the ground, and, in a fine dry day, place ten bushels of beets (picking out all the cut or bruised ones) upon it in a conical form.

Put a little straw smoothly over the heap; then cover the whole with six or eight inches of earth; and place a green turf at the top to prevent the earth from being washed, by rain, from the point, before the frost set in.

All the whole heap will freeze during the winter; but, the frost will not injure the beets, nor will it injure Carrots, preserved in the same way. If you have more than ten bushels, make another heap, or other heaps; for fear of heating before the frost comes.

When that comes, all is safe till spring; and, it is in the spring, that season of scarcity, for which we ought to provide. How many bushels of beets are flung about and wasted in the fall, the smallest of which would be a treat in the month of May!

As to the quantity to be raised for a family, eighteen rows, planted as above, across one of the Plats (little more than two perches of ground) will produce 812 beets, or nearly four for each day, from the first of November to the last of May; and, if they are of the size that they ought to be, here are much more than enough.