# How and What to Grow in a Kitchen Garden of One Acre (10th Ed)/Beets

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BEETS.
Seed of these should be sown when the first planting is done in the spring. They may be had still carlier by planting the seed in a hotbed while the ground is still frozen, and transplanting them to the gardon a week or so after the cabbage and lettuce have been planted out. Care must be taken in transplanting 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 woll 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 ​attractiveness of a dish for the vegetable to have a handsome appearance when cooked.
The seed should be sown in drills, from twelve to eighteen inches apart, if to be worked with the wheel hoe; if for horse culture, two and a half to three feet will have to be allowed between the rows. The ground should be raked clear of clods and made as fine as possible. A drill is made by drawing the rake or hoe handle along the line. The drill should be about an inch in depth and the seed should be dropped about two inches apart, thinning out to six or cight inches apart when well started, and if it is desired, the thinnings can be transplanted to another row. If no small roller is at hand, the drill can be covered and packed by the same operation, by removing the line and shuffling along the row with the feet placed in a V, the forepart of the foot drawing in the fine soil while the heels at the point cover and press the dirt down upon the row; the foot, of course, is only moved a few inches at a time, but with a little practice the rows can be covered in this manner quite rapidly.
VARIETIES OF BEETS.
Eclipse.—This is a very early beet, of quick growth and very fine quality. As the leaves of this variety are small and the stems short, they can be grown quite closely together. The roots are perfectly smooth, regular, globe shape, blood-red skin and flesh, fine grained and very sweet when cooked.
EDMAND’S EARLY TURNIP BEET.
BURPEE’S IMPROVED BLOOD TURNIP BEET.
Burpee’s Improved Blood Turnip.—This beet attains quite a large size and is very smooth and regular in appearance; the flesh is deep blood red and of fine quality, whether eaten in summer or stored for winter use; it is one of the best varieties for the latter purpose, and should be sown as described for the winter crop.