SPINACEOUS PLANTS. 271 



The seed is sown broad-cast, and in subsequent cul- 

 ture the plants are thinned first to three inches 

 apart, and as they increase in size that distance is 

 doubled. 



From the circumstance of the male and female 

 flowers growing on different plants, when they are 

 left to bring their seed to maturity care is taken that 

 a due proportion of each is suffered to remain. As 

 soon as the seed capsules are set, the male plants are 

 pulled up, thus allowing a freer space for the female 

 plants wherein to perfect their seeds. 



WILD SPINACH, or ENGLISH MERCURY, or GOOD 

 KING HARRY Chenopodium bonus Henricus. This 

 plant, which has obtained so many names, grows 

 wild on a loamy soil, and may be found on way- 

 sides and among ruins in many parts of England. 

 The stalks rise to the height of a foot and a half ; 

 they are upright, thick, and striated, and covered 

 with a whitish powder, which is likewise found on 

 the under side of the leaves. These are arrow- 

 shaped, and rather large for the size of the plant. 

 The flowers, of a yellowish green colour, grow upon 

 close spikes : they appear in June and July, and in 

 August the seeds come to maturity. This plant is a 

 perennial, and may be propagated by seeds or by 

 onsets from the root. When young, both the stem 

 and the leaves are succulent, the former being used 

 as an asparagus, and the latter as a spinach. 



Lincolnshire is the part of England where it is 

 most in request, and where it is cultivated and pre- 

 ferred to the common spinach. It is, however, 

 more nearly in a state of nature than the latter plant, 

 and therefore cannot accommodate itself to differences 

 of soil and situation. 



The superior docility of a plant which has been 

 long under cultivation, and which has travelled or 

 borne changes of soil and climate in a growing state, 



