178 GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES 



we wish it to master, eventually, the neighbouring 

 plots. 



In November the bed should be prepared. Dig three 

 feet down and arrange a layer of stable manure, which 

 must not be incorporated with the soil above. Take some 

 straight roots, five or six inches long, each possessing a 

 healthy-looking crown, remove any side growth, and 

 plant vertically nine inches apart quite six inches 

 below the surface. Ten months later the crop may be 

 lifted and the roots, not needed for immediate use, stored 

 in dry sand. If a whole root is not used for one scraping 

 the remaining portion may be buried in the ground 

 until next required. 



Spinach. The varieties of this vegetable are legion, 

 but for purposes of simple classification they may be 

 divided into three classes as follows : 



Summer Spinach. This round seed variety is sown 

 from January to June on land which has been deeply dug 

 and fairly well manured. Before sowing, which should 

 be done in dry weather, rake the bed quite flat and free 

 from stones and hard lumps of earth, then run drills, a 

 foot apart, across the plot and drop the seeds in an inch 

 below the surface. These latter should be soaked in 

 water for some hours before use ; the time required for 

 germination will then be considerably reduced. When 

 the seedlings are large enough to handle they should be 

 thinned out to four inches apart, and, later, when they 

 stand five inches high, thin again to nine inches apart. 

 Use the plants that have been pulled out in the second 

 thinning for kitchen purposes. When gathering, cut 

 away the whole of the plants. 



