206 THE GARDENER. [May 



shallow boxes, travel most satisfactorily, and so do many other kinds, 

 including Stephanotis. Spinach at all times grows most luxuriantly 

 in moderately rich soil, and manure should be freely dug into a north 

 border. The drills may be disposed a foot ai)art, and the young plants 

 ought to be thinned out early. 



Nev) Zealand Spinach. — Where the cooks can be prevailed upon to 

 use it, this is found to be a most profitable vegetable. It is most easily 

 cultivated, and about a dozen plants will in time afford heavy pickings 

 daily. The seed is usually sown in heat early in April, putting out the 

 plants obtained towards the end of May or early in June. It is not 

 yet too late to sow. Fill as many 3-inch pots as plants are required 

 with common soil, firmly press in about three seeds into each pot, and 

 place them in a mild hotbed and keep moist. The seed will germinate 

 more quickly if soaked in water twenty-four hours previous to sowing. 

 Thin out the seedlings to one plant in a pot, hardening these off, and 

 planting out before becoming root-bound. Any sunny spot is suitable 

 to grow them. Here, for instance, the plants will follow winter Spinach 

 on a well-manured raised south border. The plants should be planted 

 at least a yard apart each way, and should not be placed near to fruit- 

 trees, as they greatly impoverish the ground. They will require to be 

 watered till established. The growth spreads very rapidly, the points 

 being usually picked. 



Tomatos. — Although I wrote in the last June number of the ' Gar- 

 dener ' at some length on " Open-air culture of Tomatos," I cannot 

 consistently omit reference to the subject in this series of papers. 

 That Tomatos are still gaining ground in the estimation of all classes 

 of the community I am frequently receiving proof ; and as they are 

 considered by medical men to be very wholesome, it is to be hoped 

 they will gradually displace the unwholesome Cucumber. Last 

 season unusually heavy crops were produced on plants in the open 

 air, though in many districts a great percentage of the fruit was 

 badly diseased. To secure heavy crops extremely liberal treatment 

 must necessarily be given, aiming also to have their fruit ripening as 

 early as possible. In order to have an early crop, it is not advisable 

 to plant sooner than usual, but rather to have plants in a more 

 forward state — that is to say, with the first bunch of bloom already 

 set, and more blooms expanding. Tliis plan, of course, entails more 

 labour and requires more house or frame room than does the com- 

 moner practice, but it pays : how best to prepare the plants depends 

 much upon circumstances. In my last situation I prepared them in 

 frames, as previously described ; here they are being prepared be- 

 tween plants fruiting early on the shelf of a forcing-house, and in 

 other somewhat similar positions. The seeds were sown early in 

 April, the seedlings potted off into 4-inch pots, shifted into 8-inch 

 pots, and trained up the roof. All side shoots are closely rubbed 

 out, and the plants carefully watered. They will be hardened oflf 



