408 



GARDEN FARMING 



Botany. Spinach is known as Spinacia oleracea L. It belongs 

 to the Goosefoot family, the most familiar representatives of which 

 are the pigweeds. There are two well-marked types of spinach 

 recognized by gardeners : one has a spiny or prickly seed and was 

 for a time the only sort planted for winter use ; the other type has 

 smooth seeds and was formerly considered less hardy than the 

 prickly type. The varieties now used for winter planting are of 

 the smooth-seeded type and appear to be as hardy as the prickly- 

 seeded form. 



Under cultivation spinach has been greatly modified and im- 

 proved. There are forms which are long standing, that is, do not 



run to seed quickly ; 

 others have savoyed 

 leaves with thickened 

 parenchyma ; while the 

 wild forms have arrow- 

 shaped, pointed leaves. 

 The leaves are borne 

 upon a low crown and 

 form a rosette, as shown 

 in figure 150. The 

 staminate and pistillate 

 flowers are, as a rule, 

 borne upon different 

 plants. 



FIG. 1 50. A spinach plant, showing habit of growth 



Planting. Spinach is one of those plants which thrive best 

 during the cool, moist season of the year ; as a result it is 

 planted very early in the spring for immediate use or, in the milder 

 climates, in August or September to be harvested during the autumn 

 and winter. Even as far north as central New York it is sown 

 in August for early spring use and heavily mulched to protect it 

 through the winter. 



Preparation and cultivation of the soil. The soil best suited to 

 spinach is a well-drained, well-enriched, sandy or gravelly loam 

 a warm, early soil. This should be deeply tilled and thrown up into 

 broad beds or bands that will carry from 5 to 8 rows when the 

 rows are 8 or 10 inches apart. A space of from 18 to 24 inches is 

 left between the beds for the convenience of the workers. For the 



