128 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



Though it would go on bearing, the size and 

 quality of the heads decline. Each sucker set 

 out soon grows into a vigorous new plant with 

 two or three years of abundant productivity before 

 it, if the gardener does his duty. 



SPINACH 



For greens there is no plant that compares in 

 popularity and merit with spinach. It is a mem- 

 ber of the Goosefoot Family, that produces a 

 great many weeds in America, but no plants of 

 any value. The gardens of Europe have produced 

 many early, late, and midsummer varieties. In 

 warm regions spinach grows all the year round. 

 California gardeners need never be without it. 

 Even in New York state, the plants will live over, 

 if protected by a mulch, and in many places 

 without. Thus, a crop sown in October gets a 

 good start before winter, and is up and ready for 

 cutting early in spring. 



New Zealand spinach belongs to a different 

 family, botanically, but from the gardeners' 

 standpoint it is close to the other species. Its 

 fleshy leaves are able to withstand the hottest 

 weather, and furnish the table with a most 

 acceptable pot herb when others fail utterly. 



