312 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



is soaked in water for twenty-four hours before sowing, it 

 will germinate more quickly and evenly and make stronger 

 growth. Except when used as a catch-crop, Spinach is sown in 

 drills lin. deep and 1ft. apart. When the seedlings are well up 

 they should be thinned to from Gin. to Sin. apart, according 

 to the vigour of the variety and the richness of the ground. 

 The proper thinning of Spinach is often neglected under the 



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Viroflay Giant Spinach. 



impression that the closer the plants stand the heavier will be 

 the yield of leaves, but this is a great mistake as over-crowding 

 seriously reduces production, the leaves coming much smaller 

 and thinner than when afforded proper space, as can be readily 

 understood when it is remembered that each plant when given 

 room will measure at least 1ft. across, some very vigorous 

 varieties taking up considerably more space even than this. 



Winter Spinach. To provide a succession of pickings from 

 October to May (by which time the spring-sown crop will be 

 ready) three sowings should be made, at intervals of a fortnight, 

 from the first week in August to the middle of September. 

 The ground for this purpose should be deeply dug and well 

 enriched with decayed manure, and laid up in raised beds, 5ft. 

 to 6ft. wide, to enable the rain water to pass away quickly and 

 the crop to be gathered without treading on the soil. In this 

 case the plants may stand closer together, say 9in. between 

 the rows by 4in. in the rows, because the growth is naturally 

 less vigorous in winter than in summer. Care should be taken 

 to afford timely protection to a portion of the crop, so that 

 pickings may be obtained throughout the winter. This may be 



