Early Spring Vegetables 



taste that, to me at least, is very disagreeable. 



Its culture, however, is so easy that it is worth 

 while for any one who likes it to grow it. It can 

 be planted in the open ground as soon as the 

 ground can be worked in the spring, or sown in 

 the hotbed and transplanted, thus gaining three 

 weeks or more; sow in drill, scattering the seed 

 thinly and thin out the plants to stand six inches 

 apart in the rows. A light dressing of nitrate 

 of soda will hasten the growth and render the 

 leaves more tender and succulent. This plant 

 does not need to have successive sowings made 

 as by cutting down to the ground it will make a 

 new growth, and the outside leaves may be gath- 

 ered, the same as is done with spinach, and so 

 produce a continuous growth of tender, crisp 

 leaves. 



There are two varieties of the chard, the Giant 

 Lucullus and the Silver Beet; the latter variety 

 being more delicate in flavor, having less of the 

 earthy taste. A novel variety — a cross between 

 the Swiss Chard and the table beet — is now of- 

 fered by Luther Burbank which combines with 



91 



