THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 345 



SORREL. 



This plant resembles the weed "sour dock" of the fields. The 

 leaves are large, tender and juicy, very broad and often 10 inches 

 long, retaining the pleasant acid flavor of the original weed. Much 

 prized in France where it is cultivated as a spring vegetable and used 

 singly or mixed with spinach. (Mich. E. S. 20; U. Idaho E. S. 10.) 



SPINACH. 



Spinach thrives in a rather cool climate and attains its best 

 development in the Middle South, where it can be grown in the open 

 ground during the winter. Large areas are grown near Norfolk, 

 Va., cuttings being made at anytime during the winter when the 

 fields are not frozen or covered with snow. When the weather mod- 

 erates in the early spring the plants make a new growth, and a large 

 crop of early greens is available. North of the latitude of Norfolk, 

 spinach can be planted in the autumn and carried over winter by 

 mulching with straw or leaves. Sow the seeds in drills 1 foot apart 

 at the rate of 1 ounce to 100 feet of row or 10 to 12 pounds to the 

 acre. To produce good spinach, a rich loam which will give the 

 plants a quick growth is required. As ordinarily grown, it occupies 

 the land during the autumn and winter only and does not interfere 

 with summer cultivation. It is an easily grown garden crop, and 

 there is, perhaps, no other of its kind that will give as good satisfac- 

 tion. Three or four ounces of seed, planted in the autumn after 

 a summer crop has been harvested from the land, will produce an 

 abundance of greens for the average family during the late autumn 

 and early spring. In gathering spinach the entire plant is removed 

 rather than merely cutting off the leaves. The larger plants are 

 selected first, and the smaller or later ones are thus given room to 

 develop. No thinning is required if this plan of harvesting is prac- 

 ticed. (F. B. 255; Mich. E. S. 20; U. Id. E. S. 10; N. C. E. S. 132.) 



SQUASH. 



There are two types of the squash, the bush varieties, which may 

 be planted in hills 4 or 5 feet apart each way, and the running varie- 

 ties, which will require from 8 to 16 feet for their development. 

 Squashes may properly be grown in the garden, as 3 or 4 hills will 

 produce all that are required for family use. They require practi- 

 cally the same soil and cultural methods as the muskmelon. A num- 

 ber of varieties are used during the summer in the same manner as 

 vegetable marrow, but squashes are principally used during the win- 

 ter, in much the same way as pumpkins, to which they are superior 

 in many respects. Squashes are also used extensively for pie pur- 

 poses. The varieties known as Hubbard and Boston Marrow are 

 most commonly grown. Squashes, like pumpkins, should be han- 

 dled carefully to avoid bruising, and should be stored in a moderately 

 warm but well ventilated room. (F. B. 255; Mich. E. S. 190; 

 S. Dak. E. S. 42, 68.) 



STACHYS. 



This vegetable, known to the botanists as Stachys sieboldl, has 

 been introduced into America from Japan and has a number of 

 different names, such as Japanese potato, Chinese artichoke, chorogi, 



