VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 77 



The seed can be sown directly in the field, in rows 12 to 15 inches apart/ 

 and afterwards thinned, or may be transplanted. 



For home use plants may be cut when of sufficient size for boiling, but for 

 marketing should have formed a fair sized rosette of leaves. The harvesting 

 is easily done by cutting through the stems of the plant under the leaves. 

 On account of top growth being required, the crop is one which requires very 

 fertile soil. 



Giant Viroflay is the largest growing variety, being very suitable for 

 the cool 'districts. Victoria Dark Green is a suitable variety for the warmer 

 districts, not running to seed as quickly as a number of other sorts. New 

 Zealand Spinach is quite a different plant ; for suggestions as to its culture, 

 ^ee page 



Diseases and Pests. See list attached to cabbage (page 47). 



SQUASH. 



See Pumpkin (page 73). 



SWEET CORN OR TABLE MAIZE.* 



The demand for sweet corn as a vegetable is slowly but surely gaining 

 ground in New South Wales ; in America it is practically impossible to find 

 a home garden without it. , 



Sometimes white varieties of dent maize are used in the milk stage for 

 " roasters " or boiling as sweet corn, but these are by no means to be 

 compared with the true sweet corn varieties for flavour. 



Sweet corn is a warm weather crop, and the site chosen should be one 

 which gets a large share of sunlight, such as a northerly or easterly slope. 



Well rotted stable manure supplemented with superphosphate at the rate 

 of about 1| or 2 Ib. per cwt. of manure will be found to be about the best 

 for sweet corn. The growth is somewhat slow at first, and superphosphate 

 applied in the drills before sowing the corn has the effect of encouraging a 

 vigorous, early root growth and giving the young plants a good start. The 

 ground should be well prepared before winter if possible, and the stable 

 manure should be applied during the operations and well mixed deeply with 

 the soil. 



The rows should be made about 3 feet apart and 6 or 8 grains sown 

 together every 3 feet in the rows. When the plants are 8 or 10 inches high, 

 the number of plants should be thinned down to three or four, advantage 

 being taken to remove the weakest seedlings in the hills, and leave dnly the 

 most vigorous. 



Planting may take place in the Sydney district from the middle of 

 September to early in January. 



* H. Wenholz, B.Sc. (Agr.), Inspector of Agriculture. 



