THE GREAT WHITE OR SWISS CHARD BEET.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 2, 15 February 1913, Page 141

THE GREAT WHITE OR SWISS CHARD BEET.

Primrose McConnell.

The specimen shown in the photograph is one of the white beets selected by Mr. Davies, Wellington, from the ordinary strain of silverbeet for its superior leafstalk, and was grown at Ruakura 'Farm of

Instruction. It is a biennial plant, differing from the red beet in having a smaller and much-branched root, instead of a large fusiform fleshy tap-root. It has ■ larger leaves, with thick succulent leafstalks, having strong white ribs and veins. It is cultivated in- gardens

entirely for the leaves, which are boiled as spinach, and for the leafstalk, which, when separated from the lamina of the leaf, is cooked and eaten as asparagus under the name of “ chard.” It is not every one who cares for this vegetable, but some prefer it to cabbage ; being more easily cultivated, it affords a winter supply of an . excellent substitute for that vegetable. A sowing should be made annually, for, although the plant is biennial, it .runs to seed during the second year, and leaves gathered from the shots or shoots are of poorer quality than the first radical leaves. Experiments are at present being carried out at Ruakura to test its value as a stock-food, which, if successful, will bring it into general use on all sheep-stations on account of its being so easily grown. It will adapt itself to various soils and climates, and will stand feeding off several times in a season.