304 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



Use. Sorrel is much used by the French in soups, 

 sauces, and salads, and also cooked as spinach, and when 

 cooked in this way with turnip tops is thought to improve 

 their flavor. Some use the leaves in pies as a substitute 

 for rhubarb. 



SPINACH. (Spinacia oleracea.) 



Spinach is a hardy annual of the same family with the 

 beet, Chenopodiacece, and has been cultivated in Eng- 

 lish gardens since 1568, and probably long before. Some 

 refer its origin to Western .Asia. The leaves are large, 

 stems hollow, and the male and female flowers produced 

 on different plants. Its name, Spinaeea, is derived from 

 the Latin, spina, a thorn, on account of the prickly seed 

 of one variety. 



There are four sorts, three of which are smooth seeded, 

 and the other prickly. 



Round-leaved has large, roundish, and fleshy leaves, 

 and is the sort commonly used for spring and summer 

 crops, but late in the season it soon runs to seed. 



Flanders has smooth seeds, and large, hastate leaves, 

 six inches broad ; a hardy, good, winter sort. 



Lettuce-leaved, Leaves rounder than the last ; fleshy, 

 or thick, and of a dark green color; nearly or quite as 

 hardy as the last. 



Prickly-seeded, or Winter Spinach, Leaves smaller 

 and thinner than the other sorts, triangular shaped, and 

 very hardy. 



Culture. For the winter crop, a light, dry, but fertile 

 soil is preferable ; while for spring sowings, to have them 

 long in use, a rich, moist loam is desirable. The lime and 



