S P I 



S P I 



having a whorl of leaves close under them. It 

 is a native oF Carolina and the West Indies, 

 flowering in June. 



The second species has a shrubby stem, flircc 

 or tour feet high, sending out a few slender 

 brandies, with narrow leaves on them, not so 

 long as those on the first sort; they are smooth, 

 of a light green, and stand in a kind of whorl 

 round the steins, two being larger than the 

 others in each whorl : the flowers grow in thick 

 globular whorls to\\ards the top, and one ter- 

 minates Uie stem ; they are small and very 

 white. It is a native of Jamaica and Africa, 

 flowering; here from June to Aiiaust. 



Culture. — These plants are increased by sow- 

 ing the seeds on a moderate hot-bed carlv in the 

 spring, or in pots to be plunged in it : when the 

 plants have attained some growth, they should 

 be removed into separate pots filled with good 

 friable mould, rephinging them in the bed. 



They should afterwards he managed as other 

 plants of the exotic stove kind. 



They afford variety in stove collections. 



SPINACIA, a genus containing a plag^t of 

 the annual culinary kind. 



It belontrs to the class and order Dioecia Pen- 

 tandria, and ranks in the natural order of Holo- 

 racecB. 



The characters are: that in the male the calyx 

 is a five-parted perianth : segments concave, ob- 

 long, obtuse : there is no corolla : the stamina 

 have five capillary filaments, longer than the 

 calyx : anthers oblong, twin : — Female, the 

 calyx is a one-leafed perianth, four-cleft, acute, 

 with two opposite segments very small, perma- 

 nent : there is no corolla : the pistillum is a 

 round compressed germ : styles four, capillary : 

 stigmas simple: there is no pericarpium : calyx 

 unites and hardens: the seed one, roundish, co- 

 vered bv the calyx. 



The species is S. oleracea, Garden Spinach. 



It has an annual root : the leaves sagittate : 

 the stem hollow, branching, herbaceous, about 

 two feet high : the male flowers are herbaceous, 

 in long spikes ; they abound in pollen, which, 

 when ripe, flies out when the plants are shaken, 

 and spreads all round ; after which the plants 

 soon decay -. the female flowers, which are on a 

 separate plant, sit in clusters close to the stalks 

 at every joint ; they are small, herbaceous, and 

 are succeeded by roundish seeds, which in the 

 prickly variety are armed with short acute 

 spines. Its native place is not known. 



There are varieties of this, which differ in the 

 size and shape of the leaves, and the more or 

 less pnckliness of the seeds ; — as the Triangular 

 with pricklyseeds: theRoundwith smooth seeds, 

 which has ovate thick leaves, not angular at 



their base; both stalks and leaves are much 

 more fleshy and succulent ; and the seeds are 

 smooth without any spines Of this also there 

 are two or three subvarieties, differing in tht- 

 shape, thickness, and size of their leaves. 



Culture. — In these plants it is effected only 

 by seed, by sowing it every year in spring and 

 autumn ; the former furnishing the main spring 

 and summer crops ; and the latter the wintci^ 

 and for early spring use 



The Prickly sort is the best for winter crops, 

 and the Round for the suiiinier ones. 



It should be sown at several intervals of time, 

 from January till August, as every momti, 

 three weeks, or fortnight, according to the eaili- 

 ness or advanced period of the season, so as to 

 obtain a regular succession most part of the 

 year. 



The general spring crop should be sown in 

 March, and the general winter crop about the 

 beginning of August. 



In the spring sowings, as the crops in the very 

 early sowings in January run soon tn seed, a 

 moderate quantity should only be sown. 



But in the autumn sowings, as the plants do 

 not run the same year, good full crops, to stand 

 for winter and early spring use, should be put in. 



It succeeds in any common soil of the kitchen- 

 garden ; but the richer in dung the better j 

 always choosing an open situation, not too near 

 low spreading trees, &c., as it never succeeds in 

 close or shady places, in which it is always drawn 

 up weak, and soon runs to seed, without attain- 

 ing perfection : a warm border may be proper 

 for the early crops ; but for the main crops iu 

 general, the open quarters are the most suitable, 

 though a broad warm-lying border may also be 

 proper for some part of the later sown winter- 

 crops occasionally, for the purpose of having 

 the advantage of a little shelter of the fence, 

 and benefit of the sun during the winter season; 

 and fresh seed irhould be procured for each sow- 

 ing ; as this will be found of great importance 

 in the free growth of the plants : for the autumn 

 sowings of the winter crops, it is of advantage 

 to procure new seed of the same year. 



After the ground has been dug, the seed niav 

 either be sown broad-cast, and raked in, or in 

 shallow drills a foot asunder ; though broad- 

 cast is the most expeditious, and probably the 

 most proper method for the growth of the crops, 

 in the product of large full leaves; sowing it all 

 over the surface moderately thin, either in one 

 continued plat, and trodden down evenly, if 

 light ground, and raked in with a large rake or 

 light harrow; or the ground may be divided into 

 four- or fivc-ftet-widebeds, with foot-wide alleys 

 between ; especially for the early apd winter 



3 I 2 



