186 THE BOOK OF VEGETABLES 



ORACH, often called French or Mountain Spinach 

 (Atriplex hortensis), is an annual plant grown for its 

 leaves, which are used like spinach, and sometimes 

 cooked with sorrel. It is tender to heat and quickly 

 runs to seed in midsummer, when its value as a pot- 

 herb is gone ; the flower-stalk should therefore be 

 pinched off as soon as it appears. Being hardy to frost, 

 it should be sown as soon as the ground is fit, for an 

 early crop, and monthly for succession. Varieties are 

 green, red, white, and copper-colored, of which only 

 the red and white are usually offered in America, 

 though the green is recommended strongly. 



Soil. Any good garden soil. 



Distances. Drills, two feet apart. 



Depth of seed, one-half to one inch. 



Sow as soon as the ground is fit, thinly. 



Thin when well up, at about six inches, to one foot 

 in the rows. Or 



Sow in seed-bed rows one foot apart, thin to two 

 inches, and transplant to one by two feet. 



Pick all seed-pods before they ripen, or the plant 

 will seed itself and become a pest. 



Pick the leaves as they are wanted. 



Succession. Sow in April, May and early June, and 

 again in August for a fall crop. 



OYSTER PLANT. See Salsify. 



