Some of the smaller and more delicate Beets, of a very dark colour, may be sown in drills a foot or fifteen inches apart and thinned to six inches distance in the drills.  We have, indeed, lifted pretty crops of the smaller Beets at four inches, but it is not prudent to crowd the plants, as the result will be thin roots with long necks.

On stony shallow soils, where it is difficult to grow handsome long Beets, the Globe and Intermediate varieties may be tried with the prospect of a satisfactory result.  We have in hot seasons found these most useful on a damp clay where fine specimens of long Beet were rarely obtainable.  From this same unkind clay it is possible to secure good crops of long Beets, by making deep holes with a dibber a foot apart and filling these with sandy stuff from the compost yard and sowing the seed over them.  It is a tedious process, but it benefits the land for the next crop, and the Beets pay for it in the first instance.

==Late Crops.==—­By sowing the Globe or Turnip-rooted varieties in July, useful roots may be obtained during the autumn and winter.  Space the drills as advised for early crops.  Seed may also with advantage be thinly sown broadcast; the young plants will thus protect one another, and the roots may be pulled as they mature.

==Lifting and Storing.==—­A Beet crop may be left in the ground during the winter if aided by a covering of litter during severe frost.  But it is safer out of the ground than in it, and the proper time to lift is when a touch of autumn frost has been experienced.  Dry earth or sand, in sufficient quantity, should be ready for the storing, and a clamp in a sheltered corner will answer if shed room is scarce.  In any case, a dry and cool spot is required, for damp will beget mildew, and warmth will cause growth.  In cutting off the tops before storing, take care not to cut too near the crown, or injurious bleeding will follow.  On the other hand, the long fang-like roots may be shortened without harm, for the slight bleeding that will occur at that end will not affect more than the half-inch or so next to the cut part.  A little experience will teach anyone that Beets must be handled with care, or the goodness will run out of them.  Many cooks bake Beets because boiling so often spoils them; but if they are in no way cut or bruised, and are plunged into boiling water and kept boiling for a sufficient length of time—­half an hour to two hours, according to size—­there will be but a trifling difference between boiling and baking.

==The Silver, or Sea Kale, Beet== is grown principally for the stalk and the midrib of the leaf, considered by some to be equal to Asparagus.  In a rank soil, with plenty of liquid manure, the growth is quick, robust, and the plant of good quality, without the necessity of earthing up.  Sow in April and May, thinly in drills, and allow the plants eventually to stand at about fifteen inches apart each way.  The leaves should be pulled, not cut.  As the stalks often turn black in cooking, it is advisable to add a few drops of lemon-juice to the water in which they are boiled, and, of course, soda should never be used.  They should be served up in the same manner as Asparagus.  The remainder of the leaf is dressed as Spinach.