BETA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Chenopo diacece, among which it is known by its having large succulent roots, and a green calyx united halfway to a hard rugged nut. The species are found in Europe, the north of Africa, and the western parts of Asia; four are cultivated as esculents, the others are mere weeds.
B. vidgaris, Common Beet, is said to be found in a wild state along the whole of the sea-coast of the Mediterranean, and in Egypt ; it is however chiefly known as a plant cultivated in gardens, for its carrot-like sweet and tender roots. Several sorts are mentioned by writers on gardening, varying in the size, form, colour, and sweetness of their roots : of these however two are much more worth cultivating than the others, namely, the small red variety and the long yellow variety ; they are the most delicate, the sweetest, and have the richest colour when served at table.
B. altissima, Mengel Wurzel, is a much larger and coarser plant than the Common Beet, from which it is principally known by its roots being marked internally with zones of red and pink or white. Its native country is unknown ; by some it is reckoned a mere variety of the Common Beet, but this is scarcely probable, considering that it is permanently reproduced from seed ; others state that it is a hybrid between the Common and Chard Beet, our third sort, of which however there is neither proof nor probability. Mengel Wurzel is an object of extensive cultivation for feeding cattle ; its leaves afford a very nutritious food for all kinds of live stock, and the roots, from their extreme sweetness, are by many farmers considered the most valuable of all the agricultural plants upon which cattle are fed in winter. Independently of their use for cattle, Mengel Wurzel roots have been extensively employed in the manufacture of sugar. They are still employed in France in tho manufacture of sugar ; and an attempt has lately been made in Ireland to use them for the same purpose. For this, the common red and white Mengel Wurzel will perhaps be found best suited in this country, in consequence of its hardiness, and the great weight per acre which it will afford ; but the Frelich balm preferred a perfectly white kind, which is said to exceed the former in nutritive properties, in the proportion of two to one ; they also grow a sort with white roots and a purple crown, and another white within, and yellow on the outside. The yellow Field-Beet, which has
been a good deal cultivated in this country, is apparently a variety of B. vulgaria, and is too unproductive in most situations to bear comparison with the others.
B. cycle, Chard Beet, is inferior to the two last in the size of its roots, but is remarkable for the thickness of the ribs of its leaves, which are white, yellow, green, orange coloured, or deep crimson, in different varieties. It is cultivated like the Common Beet, but the leaves only are used in soups, or their ribs are cut out and stewed like sea-kail. They have however an earthy taste, which is not in the power of cookery wholly to remove, on which account they are little esteemed. The French call this species Poirde n Carries. It is said to have been introduced to France from Portugal ; but its native station is unknown.
B. maritima, Sea-Beet, unlike the three last, is a prostrate plant, with numerous entangled branches and a tough woody root. It is found abundantly on many parts of the southern coast of England, and is a common European shore-plant, preferring a chalky soil. Its leaves are small, ovate, deep green, erenelled, rather sharp-pointed, flat, succulent, and placed on long stalks. Its flowers are green and arranged in spikes, each being subtended by a small leafy bract. It is a perennial, and one of the most valuable plants known for spinach ; its leaves when dressed are extremely delicate and well-flavoured, and easily- reduced into that pulpy substance which constitutes the great merit of good spinach. It thrives in a garden without any sort of care, and is rather a handsome plant when growing among rubbish, for its leaves are a particularly rich green, and not liable to be scorched 2a by the sun, or to be injured much by insects. It is increased by seeds, which it yields in abundance. [Bee; in Aiwa arm Sc. Div.]