VEGETABLES SPINACH. 207 



SPINACH. — [8pinada oleracea.) 



This is a very important crop in our market gardens, 

 hundreds of acres of it being cultivated in the neighbor- 

 hood of New York. It is one of the most manageable 

 of all vegetables, requiring but little culture, and may be 

 had fit for use the entire season. 



In our market gardens, it is sown in early spring as an 

 auxiliary crop, between the rows of Early Cabbage ; it 

 comes to perfection usually in five or six weeks after sow- 

 ing. At this season, it sells at a low price, usually from 

 50 cents to 11 per barrel; but it requires but little labor, 

 and generally pays about $75 per acre of profit. The 

 main and important crop is sown in drills, 1 foot apart, in 

 this section from 1st to 15th September, or late enough in 

 fall to get about half grown before cold weather sets in. 

 It is sometimes covered up, in exposed places, with straw 

 or salt hay during winter, which prevents it being cut 

 with the frost ; but in sheltered fields, here, there is no 

 necessity for covering. 



Thus sown, in the fall, it is begun to be cut or thinned 

 out for market, about 1st of April, and is usually cleared 

 off by 1st of May, giving the ground for a second crop of 

 Cabbage, etc. I could never account for the fact that some 

 vegetables always continue to be more profitable to raise 

 than others that require the same expenditure of labor; 

 here we have a marked case in point. Spinach, which 

 certainly requires no more labor in raising than a crop 

 of Potatoes, continues to give a profit of at least three 

 times as much per acre, on fields divided only by a post 

 and rail fence. The men that grow the Spinach are never 

 foolish enough to encumber their ground with Potatoes ; 



