SILVER BEET.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1298, 29 November 1911, Page 10

SILVER BEET.

; HARDY AND USEFUL PLANT, i' A contributor to the "Farmers' Uni&h ' Advocate," "E.J.5.," writing in ref4rei«e to silver beet, says:— ■ • "It- is first cousin to \ulgaris, ol our fi6-lds ; and parden-s- i.^.-nvangcl and garden 'Wet: Instead of the root bfrtn;. edible, it is tho leaves with their beautiful white solid midrib. . Its. lifd history begins in April when,the fall Irom tbe parent plant, which if left undisturbed will geminate during August. In its ■early life it looks, exactly like a young mangold plant. It is rather a slow grower at first, but by December it should be Hbout two feet high.. It is now reidy to lie stripped of its outside, loaves. AVhen it is grown for household or poultry use tho outside leaves should be pulled like rhubarb, leaving the central plume untouched. If this is done, pulling iu reason, from December to, June dots not seem to diminish its vitality. During .Inly aud August it is practically at a standstill. If it has not been too closely cut or eaten, in September it is growing again. This year I have beet which was eaten close to the ground in .Inly, apd is now (beginning of October), twelve to fourteen inches high. It continues to grow rapidly until January or February, when it" runs off to seed; it ripens these in March and dies. . "Unless for household and poultry use my experience is not very grMt. I havo been in the habit of growhig a fair patch, which is n great standby when other green vegetables fail, .and it is con'tinualiy being used for poultry. It may lie of interest to poultry keepers to know that boiled with pollard "or" corn it is greatly relished by fowls,- ducks, and turkeys: or may be given raw to them when 'penned up.,. If any is available, I give all I can ,spare* lo the milking cows'in the depth of winter, aud they eat it read-' ily without it tainting the milk, a fact, nor baps, worth considering by dairymen. Referring to an old Encyclopaedia, I find 'A 1,1-cattle aro fond of the leaves, which add much to the milk of cows, without giving il- the bad taste which is unavoidable, when they are fed. on. turnips or cabbage, which is ohiefly owing to the greater rapidity with which the latter undergo the putrefactive, fermentation. Tho leaves boileil with bran'or refuse grain are au excellent food for fattening pijfs or bullocks.' "Both Dr. Hilgendorf l and Mr. Dibble are of opinion that it is not so-nutritious as rape. With all due rospect to these gentlemen, I think . they . arc mistaken. At ;myr.ite,.l know which I-.would rather oat. myself, and I know that cattle will cat-it in preference to rape. Some ycavs ago-we bought in the autumn some 'separators,' and were told, they would all die. The first cnlf to go back was rlin into a patch of garden containing weeds, long and some, silver-befit. 1 She was not many minutes before- she made a start on the beet, and never ate anything else'until it wna finished. She was in- : .abont a fortnight afterwards, if tl\e gate-was left. open,, sho would slip in and trim ttp the bee ; t. She lived to be a good cow. -which points to there- being, good feeding value iii silver beet. OF fioiir'fe; one swallow, does not- make a-suinme.r, hut we feel, fairly confident that had iro had a couple of acres-of beet to 1 have given them all a' -taste; as we did Hm one. we should have: brought them .ill through comfortably. In Mr. G. .Wilfon's instructive' and interesting article on maize,, he points out how njaize, call bo grown ,aud eaten along with rape to help lambs over a.very critical time. I think silver bud would be splepdjd to take up, the running after-the maize was too far advanced for this purpose. We intend to try,some this year. As.tho vitality is stored in the leaves (especially the midrib,'-1 believe), not in the rppt, as in- turnips, the <leaves: do not die off in tho late aut'umji. but-- continuo sound through till spring. .'Thus there'need be 110 hurry to cqt it .off, unless- required lo have it. • " ... "Its cultivation is similar to mangold. Sou* in drills, about-tweijtv inches apart, and thin tfl'-a ; foot'in the'rows. Tlie more tho ground is kept the botter tho crop. It thrives best on a medium'soil, the richer the hotter." At the' same time I have seen it 'growing well on land vcry )it»lo better than black" sand, " and also mi stilt day. Sheepyard manure is what I have used, and can recommend, but I should say th.it the artificial ni ami re that brings mangolds on best; in a.ny district, is Die right nmniiro for the beet., Tho singiings aro easily transplanted if ref|iiirod. 1-0 long as the weather is at all favourable. Old plants/ intended for seed should be shifted in July, asaftortho growth starts io spring it resonts much shifting. • "In common with all the beet family," it is wonderfully free from disease, the only trouble it has ,is au. occasional leaf will'partly die from the tip downwards, the (lead part turning black. This is I supposo tho rust, spoken of by some. Tbe diamond moth, or any other such Jiko enemy, docs not so far touch it. Anyone reading the above, will see it takes much more labour to grow silver beet than rape, but o>n the other hand, it is so free from disease that it is well worth growing now that rapo and turnips are so uncertain. If we rnu't grow the best, shall wo not be wise to grow the next best."

I'or Chronic Chest ■ Complaints, 1 .Woods' Great Peppermint Cure, Is. 64, *■