Occupations > Abercrombie's improved practical gardener; with a monthly calendar for the flower garden

234 WHITE BEET.
Use.
The leaves of the plant are the parts to he
used, and are boiled like Spinach or put in soups.
Varieties.
The principal varieties known in gardens are—
the Common Small-rooted Green-leaved; the
Common White Small-rooted; and the Great
White, or Swiss.
Propagation.
All the sorts are propagated by seed, and the
soil for these varieties may be considerably
stronger and richer than that for the Red and
Yellow sorts, but need not be quite so deep. For
a bed containing fifty-four square feet, one ounce
of seed will be required.
The seed should be sown in March, either in
drills, six or eight inches apart for the small sorts,
and ten or twelve for the larger, or broad-cast,
and the seeds raked in well.
When the plants are up two inches high, they
must be thinned out to from eight inches to a
foot apart, and afterwards kept clear from weeds.
The seed of this sort is procured in the same
way as of the Red.—that article.