. 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.

==BORECOLE, or KALE==

==Brassica oleracea acephala==

The Borecoles or Kales are indispensable for the supply of winter
vegetables, and their importance becomes especially manifest when severe
frost has made general havoc in the Kitchen Garden. Then it is seen that
the hardier Borecoles ar