WILD AND NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. 183 



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from Flanders is said to be superior ; and the New Zealand spinach 

 differs from all. 



Spinach makes a delicious dish, served up with gravy of roast meats, 

 melted butter, &c. It is the only vegetable advantageously raised the 

 last of the year. It should be picked clean and washed in 6 waters 

 before cooking. It is then put in a sauce-pan, without water, salt 

 sprinkled upon it and covered closely. When shrunk and the juice 

 is evaporated, it is done. Then drain it well in a sieve and prepare it 

 with gravy, butter and hard-boiled eggs ; the leaves are also used in 

 soups. 



The seed is sown broad-cast, the plants thinned to 3 inches, and, as 

 they increase, the distance is doubled. When left for seed a due pro- 

 portion of male and female must be left. When the seed-capsules are 

 set, the male plants are pulled. Spinach requires soil highly manured, 

 an open situation and good weeding. If sown in drills, which is best, 

 the drills are made 2 inches deep, a foot apart; the seed is scattered 

 thinly and equally and the earth is matted down . The drills may be 

 made between peas, beans, or cabbages. The plants are gathered 

 when the leaves are 2 or 3 inches broad, either cut up or drawn. 

 They are covered in winter. Sown broad-cast, 2 oz. answer for a bed 4| 

 by 30 feet; if in drills, 1 oz. suffices for the same space. French 

 physicians consider this plant both physic and food; and hence 

 call it the broom of the stomach," sweeping and deterging every 

 part of it without pain or interruption. 



Wild Spinach. This plant grows wild on loamy soil, on waysides, 

 among ruins, &c. The yellowish green flowers appear in June and 

 July. It is perennial and is propagated by seeds, or offsets from the 

 'root. The leaves and stem, when young, are succulent ; the latter is 

 used like asparagus and the former as spinach. 



N'ew Zealand Spinach, (tetragonia expansa,) found growing wild 

 there by Capt. Cook. It was recommended to the natives by the nat- 

 uralists of the expedition and found excellent ; and it is now natural- 

 ized in England. Wherever it has once grown, it springs up spon- 

 taneously. Its leaves are abundant and succulent in hot weather; it 

 is milder and more rapid in growth than the common sort. It is an 

 annual in northern climates. The stem has thick and strong branches ; 

 the leaves are green beneath and pale on the surface ; heart-shaped, 

 with apex pointed ; and the whole plant is studded with aqueous tuber- 

 cles. The leaves may be gathered in 6 weeks after sowing. It is 

 found wild in many other places; leaves yellowish green, appearing 

 in Aug. Leaves arrow-shaped, male flowers in long spikes, female 

 in clusters on the stalks, at the joints. 



PARSLEY, jdpium petroselinum. C. 5. O. 2. Umbelliferse. sp. 2-5 

 Fr. B. 3 ft named from its supposed medical qualities. It is a use- 

 ful and pleasant vegetable growing wild in most climates. It has been 



