I f a few strong roots of red beet be left standing in the rows, or rather he transplanted to some convenient spot, they will next year shoot up and produce seed. The flower stems should be tied to stakes, to prevent their breaking over. It is scarcely necessary to add, that they should be removed as distant as possible from flowering plants of the green variety, or of the white species.
325. From a variety of the garden beet, having a red skin but white flesh, sugar is prepared in some parts of France and the Netherlands; a manufacture which was introduced during Buonaparte's government, when West India sugars were utterly prohibited. A small species of beet has been cultivated for a good many years in France, under the name of Castelnaudari, but which is very little if at all known in this country. It is described as possessing a fine flavour, something like that of a hazel-nut. It is ready for use in August. The colour of the root is the same as that of com mon beet-rave ; but its leaf is smaller, rounder, and rather of a livid hue.
The White Beet, although stated by some writers (as Salisbury, in the Botanist's Companion") to be only a variety of the red, is in reality a very distinct species, Beta etcla of Linntrus ; but as the leaves and not the roots of this species arc used, it will fall to be treated of under the sec tion Spinach plants.
thus procured are not so good or A:ndel as those from seed. In some gardens, the roots are lifted in November, and stored in the manner of carrots ; in others, they are left in the ground, and taken up during winter as wanted.
Skirret.
326. The Skirret (Siam Sisarum, L. ; Pentandria nia ; nat. ouch Umbellifere) is a native of China. It has been cultivated in our gardens since the middle of the 16th century, and was formerly more esteemed and more in use than it is at the present clay. In the '' Systcma Horticid tura, by J. W. gent. 1682," skirwort is declared to be the 4, sweetest, whitest, and most pleasant of roots." It is a perennial plant; the lower leaves pinnated ; the stem rising about a foot high, and terminated by an umbel of white flowers. The root is composed or fleshy tubers, of the size of the little finger, joined together in one head : these form the part of the plant used. They are considered wholesome
and nutritive, but, having a sweetish taste, are not relished by many persons. They are generally boiled and served with butter like parsnips. In the north of Scotland, the plant is cultivated under the name of crummock. It is the che•vis of the French, Any light deep soil is found to answer for skirret. If the ground be naturally moist, so much the better. In very dry soils, or during long-continued drought, watering is proper. The seed is not sown sooner than the beginning of April, lest the plants should run to flower the first sea son, when the tubers would become harsh and stringy. Repeated thinning and hoeing are proper, as in the case of similar crops. When the leaves begin to decay in autumn, the tubers are considered as fit for use ; but they are ge nerally left in the ground, and taken up as wanted. Some times the plants which remain over winter are dug up in the spring, and the side-shoots, each with an eye or bud, are transplanted for a new crop. These are commonly put in with the dibble, and covered over head with an inch depth of soil. But the tubers yielded by plants propagated in this way arc not so large as those of seedling plants.
Scorzonera.
327. Scorzonera, or garden viper's grass, (Scorzonera Histanica, L.; Syngenesia Polygamia rEqualis ; Cichoracee, Juss.) is a native of Spain, the south of France, and Italy. The stem rises two or ttiree feet high, with a -few em bracing leaves, and is branched at top ; the lower leaves are eight or nine inches long, and end in a sharp point ; the flowers are yellow. It was cultivated in gardens in this country in the end of the 16th century. • The tap root is the part used ; it is carrot-shaped, about the thickness of one's finger ; tapei tog gradually to a fine point, and thus bearing some resemblance to the body of a viper : it has a dark brown skin, but is white within, and abounds with a milky juice. The outer rind being scraped off, the root is steeped in water, in order to abstract a part of its bitter flavour. The plant is not, in the present clay, much culti vated.