SPINACH 



5499 



SPINNING JENNY 



SPINACH 



perfume for centuries, and the ointment was 

 used by the Romans in connection with the 

 bath. In Southern Canada and the Northern 

 United States is found an aromatic herb which 

 is used in making a tonic. This is called 

 American spikenard, or Indian root; it is a 

 relative of the sarsaparilla family. 



SPINACH, spin'aj, or spin 1 ech, a popular 

 garden vegetable cultivated for its leaves, 

 which are cooked as greens and are also used 

 in making soup. Though cooked spinach is 

 nearly nine-tenths water and has only small 

 proportions of 

 protein, fat and 

 carbohydrates, its 

 delightful flavor 

 makes it a very- 

 agreeable addi- 

 tion to a meal, 

 and it is said to 

 have slight tonic 

 properties. This 

 is one of the green vegetables that may be had 

 during the entire winter, for the plant is hardy 

 and can be grown during cold months. In the 

 vicinity of Norfolk, Va., a tender, delicately 

 flavored variety known as Norfolk Savoy is 

 grown iji large quantities for the Northern mar- 

 kets. Sowings are made in the fall and the 

 crop is harvested at intervals during the cold 

 weather. Farther north the plant is grown as 

 an early spring crop. Spinach requires a rich 

 soil, as plants grown in poor soil bear leaves 

 that are tough and bitter. The seed is usually 

 sown in drills an inch deep and a foot apart. 

 There are two general classes: prickly spinach, 

 with arrowheaded leaves and a fruit pod cov- 

 ered with spines; and smooth spinach, with 

 round leaves and smooth fruit. 



SPI'NAL CORD, the largest nerve trunk in 

 the body. It is located in the spinal column, 

 extends from the medulla oblongata to the 

 lumbar vertebrae and is composed of gray and 

 white matter. The spinal nerves branch off 

 from it, and it is one of the centers of reflex 

 action. For a full description see NERVOUS 

 SYSTEM, subhead Spinal Cord. 



SPINNING, spin' ing, an ancient household 

 industry that has found its way into great mod- 

 ern factories. It is a process of making threads 

 by twisting vegetable and animal fibers, and 

 was originally accomplished by means of a 

 spindle and distaff. The spindle was a stick 

 from nine to fifteen inches long, tapering at 

 both ends and having a notch at one end for 

 catching the thread, and the distaff was a staff 



upon which the fibers were bound in a loose 

 coil. The spinner rotated the spindle by rolling 

 it against the thigh with the right hand, while 

 the fibers were gathered and arranged with the 

 left. With such a primitive device the ancient 

 Egyptians made threads that were woven into 

 fabrics of the finest quality. Towards the mid- 

 dle of the sixteenth century the progress of 

 spinning was aided by the invention of a spin- 

 ning wheel (see illustration in the article SPIN- 

 NING WHEEL). This was the type of spinning 

 machine used by the housewives of New Eng- 

 land in colonial days, which appears so often in 

 picture and story. 



Spinning, however, was destined to undergo 

 a complete revolution. This was the result of 

 three notable inventions of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury the spinning jenny of James Hargreaves, 

 the cotton spinning machine of Richard Ark- 

 wright and the mule spinner of Samuel Cromp- 

 ton. Though numerous improvements were 

 perfected during the nineteenth century, which 

 vastly increased the output and made possible 

 a product of higher quality, all modern ma- 

 chinery is based on eighteenth-century models. 



Cotton spinning as carried on in a modern 

 factory may be taken as a type. After the raw 

 cotton has been cleaned and arranged into laps 

 of uniform size, it is carried to the carding 

 machines, equipped with huge rollers covered 

 with wire teeth, where the tangled fibers are 

 straightened out and made to lie in straight, 

 even rows. Then the fibers are rolled over and 

 over one another to form slivers, which look 

 like loose ropes of soft cotton yarn. A sliver 

 goes through the processes of drawing, slub- 

 bing and roving, by which it is twisted and 

 retwisted and made continually finer and 

 stronger. The concluding operations are car- 

 ried out in the spinning machines, in which the 

 thread is finally given the required twist, firm- 

 ness and strength. 



Consult Barker's Textiles; Byrn's Progress of 

 Invention in the Nineteenth Century. 



SPINNING JENNY, jen'i, a device in- 

 vented about 1767 by James Hargreaves, of 

 Lancashire, England, by which sixteen or more 

 threads could be spun simultaneously. The 

 name jenny is derived from gin, which was the 

 local term for engim. In the spinning jenny 

 spindles were placed vertically and were ro- 

 tated by a wheel worked by hand. It was 

 found of great advantage for spinning coarse 

 thread but unsuitable for fine work. It was 

 replaced by the mule, which contained most of 

 the important features, with improvements. 



