The Field and Garden Vegetables of America | Page 5

cut into thin slices, and baked in an oven. Dried, roasted, and ground, they are sometimes mixed with coffee, and are also much employed as a pickle. Mixed with dough, they make a wholesome bread; but, for this purpose, the white or yellow rooted sorts are preferred. The roots of all the varieties are better baked than boiled."--M'Int.
The young plants make an excellent substitute for spinach; and the leaves of some of the kinds, boiled when nearly full grown, and served as greens, are tender and well-flavored.
Some of the larger varieties are remarkably productive, and are extensively cultivated for agricultural purposes. From a single acre of land in good condition, thirty or forty tons are frequently harvested; and exceptional crops are recorded of fifty, and even sixty tons. In France, the White Sugar-beet is largely employed for the manufacture of sugar,--the amount produced during one year being estimated to exceed that annually made from the sugar-cane in the State of Louisiana.
For sheep, dairy-stock, and the fattening of cattle, experience has proved the beet to be at once healthful, nutritious, and economical.
Varieties.--The varieties are quite numerous, and vary to a considerable extent in size, form, color, and quality. They are obtained by crossing, or by the intermixture of one kind with another. This often occurs naturally when two or more varieties are allowed to run to seed in close proximity, but is sometimes performed artificially by transferring the pollen from the flower of a particular variety to the stigma of the flower of another.
The kinds now in cultivation are as follows; viz.:--
BARK-SKINNED. Vil.
Oak Bark-skinned.
[Illustration: Bark-skinned Beet.]
Root produced entirely within the earth, broadest near the crown, and thence tapering regularly to a point; average specimens measuring four inches in their greatest diameter, and about one foot in depth. Skin dark brown, thick, hard, and wrinkled, or striated, sometimes reticulated or netted, much resembling the bark of some descriptions of trees; whence the name. Flesh very deep purplish-red, circled, and rayed with paler red, fine-grained, sugary, and tender. Leaves numerous, spreading, bright green, slightly stained with red; the leaf-stems and nerves bright purplish-red.
An early and comparatively new French variety, of fine flavor, excellent for summer use, and, if sown as late as the second week in June, equally valuable for the table during winter. Not recommended for field culture.
Sow in rows fourteen inches apart, and thin to six inches apart in the rows.
BARROTT'S NEW CRIMSON. Thomp.
Root similar in form to the Castelnaudary, but somewhat larger; smooth and regular, and not apt to fork. Flesh dark crimson, fine-grained and tender. Leaf-stalks yellow.
BASSANO.
Early Flat Bassano. Turnip-rooted Bassano. Rouge Plate de Bassano. Vil.
Bulb flattened; six or seven inches in diameter by three or four inches in depth; not very regular or symmetrical, but often somewhat ribbed, and terminating in a very small, slender tap-root. Skin of fine texture; brown above ground; below the surface, clear rose-red. Flesh white, circled or zoned with bright pink; not very close-grained, but very sugary and well-flavored. Leaves numerous, erect, of a lively green color, forming many separate groups, or tufts, covering the entire top, or crown, of the root. Leaf-stems short, greenish-white, washed or stained with rose.
An Italian variety, generally considered the earliest of garden-beets, being from seven to ten days earlier than the Early Blood Turnip-rooted. The flesh, although much coarser than that of many other sorts, is tender, sweet, and of good quality. Roots from early sowings are, however, not suited for winter use; as, when overgrown, they almost invariably become too tough, coarse, and fibrous for table use. To have them in perfection during winter, the seed should not be sown till near the close of June.
In moist, favorable seasons, it succeeds well in comparatively poor, thin soil.
Cultivate and preserve as directed for the Early Turnip-rooted.
CATTELL'S DWARF BLOOD.
Root small, regularly tapering. Flesh deep blood-red. Leaves small, bright red, spreading, or inclined to grow horizontally. Quality good,--similar to that of the Red Castelnaudary; which variety it much resembles in its general character.
On account of its small size, it requires little space, and may be grown in rows twelve inches apart.
COW-HORN MANGEL WURZEL. Vil.
Serpent-like Beet. Cow-horn Scarcity.
A sub-variety of the Mangel Wurzel, producing its roots almost entirely above ground; only a small portion growing within the earth. Root long and slender, two feet and a half in length, and nearly three inches in diameter at its broadest part; often grooved or furrowed lengthwise, and almost invariably bent and distorted,--the effect either of the wind, or of the weight of its foliage. Flesh greenish white, circled with red at the centre. Leaves of medium size, green, erect; the leaf-stems and nerves pale red or rose color.
It derives its different names from its various contorted forms; sometimes resembling a horn, and often assuming a shape not unlike that of a serpent.
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