urface perfectly mellow, and free
from clods, weeds, and stones, sow in drills, with a machine for the
purpose, two feet apart. This is wide enough for a small cultivator to
pass between them. After planting, roll the surface smooth and level;
this will greatly facilitate early cultivation. On a rough surface you
can not cultivate small plants without destroying many of them; hence
the necessity of straight rows and thorough rolling. The English books
recommend planting this and other roots on ridges: for their climate it
is good, but for ours it is bad. They have to guard against too much
moisture, and we against drought; hence, they should plant on ridges,
and we on an even surface. To get the largest crop, plow a deep furrow
for each row, put in plenty of good manure, cover it with the plow and
level the surface, and plant over the manure. When well growing, they
should be thinned to six or eight inches in the row. Often stirring the
earth while they are young is of great benefit. The quality and quantity
of a root-crop depend much upon the rapidity of its growth. Slow growth
gives harder roots of worse flavor, as well as a stinted crop.

_Harvesting_ should be done just before severe frosts. They will grow
until frost comes, however early they were planted, or whatever size
they may have attained. They grow as rapidly after light frosts as at
any time in the season; but very severe frosts expose them to rot during
winter.

_Preserving_ for table use is usually done by putting in boxes with
moist sand, or the mould in which they grew. This excludes air, and, if
kept a little moist, will preserve them perfectly. Roots are always
better buried below frost out-door on a dry knoll, where water will not
stand in the pits. But in cold climates it is necessary to have some in
the cellar for winter use. The common method of burying beets, and
turnips, and all other roots out-door, is well understood. The only
requisites are, a dry location secured from frost, straw next the roots,
a covering of earth, not too deep while the weather is yet mild; as it
grows cold, put on another covering of straw, and over it a foot of
earth; as it becomes very cold, put on a load or two of barnyard manure:
this will save them beyond the power of the coldest winter. Vast
quantities of roots buried outdoor are destroyed annually by frost, and
there is no need of ever losing a bushel. You "_thought_ they would not
freeze," is not half as good a