384 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



apart. No crop will be produced the first year, but the second year a few 

 shoots can be removed without weakening the plants; the third year they will 

 produce a full crop. The plant needs protection during the winter. A good 

 plan is to cover the bed or plants with leaves, or manure, or leaf-mould. This 

 will protect the plants, and the shoots as they push through this covering will 

 be blanched and ready for use. 



SPINACH. 



Chas. E. Parnell says, to grow good spinach it is important to give large 

 attention to the preparation of the soil. 



In order to produce thick, succulent leaves a rich and deep soil is essential. 

 This can be obtained by either digging or plowing the ground as deeply as 

 possible, and at the same time working in an abundance of well-rotted stable 

 manure. With either the rake or harrow level the ground as neatly as possi- 

 ble. The seeds should be sown in drills from one and a half to two and a half 

 feet apart. The sowing is best done just before a rain, if possible, but unless 

 the ground is absolutely dry a quick germination of the seed can be obtained 

 by proper firming of the soil. This firming may be readily accomplished by 

 pressing down with the feet every inch of soil in the drill. 



As soon as the plants become strong enough to handle they require to be 

 well thinned so thi;t they stand about three inches apart. In about two weeks 

 every other plant should be removed so as to leave the plants six inches apart 

 in the row. The ground should be well worked with the hoe and thus kept 

 free from weeds at all times. When cold weather sets in a light covering of 

 straw or salt hay should be given. This covering should be removed about the 

 first of April, a sprinkling of guano applied, and a good hoeing given. 



For fall use, spinach should be sown about the tenth of August, and for the 

 winter and early spring crop, from the first to the tenth of September. For 

 the late spring and early summer crop the seed should be sown as early in 

 spring as possible, and if spinach is desired throughout the summer it 

 should be sown every two weeks in order to maintain a succession, but as the 

 summer sowings soon run to seed severe thinning is not necessary. The plants 

 may be permitted to stand three inches apart. For fall sowing he uses the 

 prickly seeded variety, for spring and summer the round-leaved Virofiay. 



SHORTENING IN PEA VINES. 



Mr. 11. J. Seymour, of Madison county, New York, had heard of shortening 

 in pea vines to induce branching and thus increase the crop, and gives his 

 experience the past year to the American Garden which certainly is remark- 

 able. Mr. Seymour writes : 



" It was already late in the season, the first blossoms just showing themselves 

 in most cases, yet the experiment was worth trying, and as I had an acre of 

 these peas it could not amount to much i( I did injure a few plants. So I 

 counted off six hundred plants on one row, stuck a stake firmly in the ground, 

 and pinched remorselessly an inch or more, blossoms and all, from the top of 

 every one of these plants. Then I counted six hundred plants on the row next 

 to this, and drove a stake without disturbing the plants. I watched the 



