BEET (AS. bete; Lat. beta), Beta valguris, a plant of the family Chenopodiacece. There are several forms of the species, mostly bien nials, with stalked, smooth, ovate leaves, with flowers borne on tall leafy stems. The original form, or sea-beet, is found growing wild in sandy soil, near the sea, in Europe and western Asia. It has been in cultivation since 200-300 s.c., and to-day the numerous varieties may be classified under one of five sections, although the divisions are arbitrary and of no great importance.
Garden These usually have small tops, with turnip-shaped to tapering roots of medium size, fine-grained, smooth, regular, gen erally red but sometimes yellowish or whitish in color. Among popular varieties are Early Blood, Eclipse, Bassano and Egyptian turnip. The soil best suited is a loose, rich, deep, clean, well-tilled loam. Well-rotted barnyard manure with some potassic fertilizer is often applied. Seed is sown as soon as possible in the spring, for the early crop, with other sowings until June to ensure a succession; in rows, varying from one foot apart, where intensive gardening is practised, to three feet where horse labor is used. The plants are thinned from four to six inches asunder in the rows, care being taken to leave only one plant in a place. Thinning is often done when the youngplants are large enough to sell as °greens.° The late crop, if required for winter use, must be stored before frost. Beets are sometimes forced under glass.
Mangold Wursels or Mangels are a large, coarse form raised for cattle-feeding. Stand ard varieties include Mammoth long red, Golden tankard and Globe. Seed is sown as early as possible in the spring, in rows two to three feet apart, and the plants allowed to stand 12 to 16 inches asunder in the row. To ensure a good crop the land must be in a high state of cultivation and well supplied with plant-food. They may be grown on alkali soils.
The varieties are rather small-growing, and nearly always yellowish or whitish in color. They contain a high percent age of sugar, which has been increased by selection and cultivation. They are extensively grown in Europe and in the Northern and West ern States. See BEET SUGAR.
Chard or Swiss Beets have comparatively large leaves with succulent leaf-stalks, which are cooked and eaten like asparagus. See CHARD.
Foliage Beets are grown for ornamental purposes. The luxuriant foliage is of many colors and varied in markings. Brazilian, Chilean, Victoria and Dracaena-leaved are well known varieties. They may be raised from seed, like other beets, and the roots lifted in fall and kept over winter.
Uses and Feeding As a vegetable the root of the garden beet is boiled, pickled, and used as a salad; and the tops are boiled as °greens.° They contain on an average 88.5 per cent water; 1.5 per cent protein; 8 per cent nitrogen-free extract; 1 per cent ash; 0.1 per cent ether extract, and 0.9 per cent crude fibre. Mangels are fed to cattle; they contain from 7 per cent to 15 per cent dry matter, of which about 88 per cent is digestible; an average per centage composition may be taken as: water, 90.9; protein, 1.4; nitrogen-free extract, 5.5; ether extract, 0.2; ash, 1.1; crude fibre, 0.9. About 77 per cent of the protein or 96 per cent of the nitrogen-free extract is digestible. The dry matter of mangels and corn silage are of about equal value for feeding, but as the cost of production in mangels is double that in corn, stoclanen in the United States have not paid much attention to them.
Beets are sometimes injured by the beet-fly, otherwise they have few insect ene mies. They are sometimes attacked by rust, rot, leaf-spot and scab. Spraying with Bor deaux mixture will prevent the leaf diseases. Scab attacks the root, and as it also attacks the potato these crops should not be grown in succession.
Beet Pulp is a by-product of sugar-beet factories, consisting of sliced sugar-beets after the sugar is removed. It contains about 10 per cent dry matter, the remainder being water, and in the wet condition must be fed at once or held in silos. It may be fed to milch cows, fattening steers and sheep, and ranges in value from half to two-thirds the value of corn silage. Some of the factories have erected sheds and feed large quantities of it to stock with the addition of hay and grain.