Spinach 349 



fertilizer per acre at each of two or three successive 

 applications. These applications may be made from ten 

 days to two weeks apart. The applications are often 

 applied by means of a street sprinkler or similar ar- 

 rangement. Sometimes the beds are top-dressed with 

 manure in the fall, and the teachings from the manure 

 will then start the plants quickly in the spring. Hen- 

 manure is sometimes used. 



There is always more or less loss of fall -grown 

 plants in the northern states. For home use, and some- 



Fig. 103. Spinach seedlings. Two-thirds natural size. 



times for market, plants are started in the spring in a 

 warm position, the seed usually being sown where the 

 plants are to remain. It is more easy to secure a good 

 stand by this spring sowing, but the plants do not ma- 

 ture so early. Spinach is sometimes started under glass 

 and transplanted to the open ; and it is sometimes grown 

 to edible maturity under frames. Sometimes beds of 

 fall -grown spinach are covered with sash in February 

 or March in order to hasten the plants. 



The New Zealand spinach, which is a distinct spe- 

 cies from the above, is sometimes used for summer 



