BEETS.—The species _Beta vulgaris_,[4] the parent of our common beets, is a native of Egypt, and grows wild along the Mediterranean Sea at the present day. The name is from the Celtic word _Bett_, meaning _red_, the prevailing color of most beets. This garden vegetable has been generally grown for six hundred years, and during that time has undergone many important changes. Long ago the beet arrived at a state of perfection beyond which it is not easy to pass. The Mangold-Wurzel[5] and Sugar Beets are derived from another species. These are grown very extensively in Europe and are worthy of far more attention by American farmers. The Swiss Chard is another species of the genus _Beta_, largely grown in some countries for the leaves, which only are used. They are stripped off and used like spinach. The soil best adapted to the growing of beets is a rich, sandy loam, rather light than otherwise. It should be thoroughly pulverized by deep plowing, harrowing, etc., until a fine, mellow bed is prepared for the seeds. The seeds are sown in rows, and the soil should be pressed firmly upon them. For early beets the sowing may be done so soon as the ground can be worked. The late sorts may be sown in July. As soon as the plants are above ground a push-hoe should be passed close to the rows. A few days later the beets need to be thinned to five or six inches in the row. The removed plants make excellent greens. The remaining work until harvest time is keeping the soil free from weeds and loose by frequent hoeing. The rake is better than the hoe, if it is used frequently and no weeds get large. Beets should be harvested before frosts injure them. Handle carefully and store in a place where the temperature is uniformly a few degrees above freezing. The Egyptian is among the best early sorts; it has a dark blood color, and much resembles a flat turnip in shape. The Long, Smooth, Blood Beet is considered as ranking first for general family and market uses. The Mangold-Wurzels are coarse beets of large size, grown as a field crop for live stock. The White Sugar is a Mangold, free from much of the red coloring matter of the red sorts. These larger varieties of beets are very extensively grown in Europe for the manufacture of sugar, and it would add to our agricultural wealth if they were more frequently a part of a well planned system of rotation of crops in America. It may not pay for us to make beet sugar, but the use of the roots as a wholesome winter food for stock is profitable.