For a neat crop, sow in drills one and a half to two inches deep, and
spaced from twelve to fifteen inches apart. When finally thinned the
plants should stand about nine inches apart in the rows. Hand weeding
will have to follow soon after sowing, and perhaps the hoe may be
required to supplement the hand. The thinning should be commenced as
early as possible, but it is waste of time to plant the thinnings, and
it is equally waste of time to water the crop. In fact, if the ground is
well prepared, weeding and thinning comprise the whole remainder of the
cultivation.

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,