Spinach 



sown up to the very end of the year with but little risk of loss. The 

 winter crops are sometimes sown broadcast, but drilling is to be 

 preferred, and the rows must be fully fifteen inches apart. Thin at 

 first to three inches, and afterwards to six inches, and leave them at 

 this distance, for Winter Spinach may be a little crowded with ad- 

 vantage, because the weather and the black bot will now and then 

 remove a plant. Should ground vermin claim attention, the best way 

 to proceed will be to scratch shallow furrows very near the plants, taking 

 care not to injure them. This may be done with the hoe, but if time 

 can be spared it will be better to do it with a short pointed stick, 

 having at hand, as the work progresses, a vessel into which to throw 

 the grubs as they come to light when the earth is disturbed. Where 

 small birds are in sufficient numbers, they will observe the disturbance 

 of the earth, and diligently search for the grubs at hours when the 

 cultivator is no longer on the search himself. 



The July sowings will be useful in the autumn and throughout 

 the winter, as the weather may determine ; the later sowings will be 

 useful in spring. Leaves only should be taken when the plant is 

 large enough to supply them, and previous to this plants may be 

 drawn where they can be spared to make room for the remainder. 

 When symptoms of bolting become visible in the spring, cut the 

 plants over at the collar, and at once prepare the ground for another 

 crop. 



New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia expanse?). Gardeners are 

 only too well acquainted with the difficulty of maintaining an un- 

 broken supply of true Spinach during the burning summer months. 

 But the weather which makes it almost impossible to produce a 

 satisfactory crop of Spinacia oleracea brings New Zealand Spinach 

 to perfection. The latter is prized by some persons because it 

 lacks the peculiar bitterness of the former. The plant is rather tender, 

 and therefore to obtain an early supply the seed must be raised in 

 heat. It may be sown in pots or pans at the end of March or 

 beginning of April. The seedlings must be transferred to small pots 

 immediately they are large enough, and be gradually hardened in 

 preparation for removal to the open ground towards the end of May. 

 They should be put into light soil in a sunny position, and be allowed 

 three or four feet apart each way. It is not unusual to grow them on 

 a heap of used potting soil, where they can ramble without restraint. 

 The growth is rapid, and there must be no stint of water in dry weather. 

 In five or six weeks the first lot of tender shoots will be ready for 

 pinching off. Those who do not care to incur trouble under glass 



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