156 SPINACEOUS PLANTS. 



Use. It is cooked and served in the same manner as 

 Common Spinach. 



There are no described varieties. 



SPINACH. 



Spinacia oleracea. 



Spinach is a hardy annual, of Asiatic origin. When in 

 flower, the plant is from two to three feet in height. The 

 fertile and barren flowers are produced on separate plants, 

 the former in groups, close to the stalk at every joint; 

 the latter in long, terminal bunches, or clusters. 



The seeds vary in a remarkable degree in their form and 

 general appearance, those of some of the kinds being 

 round and smooth, while others are angular and prickly : 

 they retain their vitality five years. An ounce contains 

 twenty-four hundred of the prickly seeds, and twenty-seven 

 hundred of the round or smooth. 



Soil and Cultivation. Spinach is best developed, and 

 most tender and succulent, when grown in rich soil. For 

 the winter sorts, the soil can hardly be made too rich. 



It is always raised from seeds, which are sown in drills 

 twelve or fourteen inches apart, and three-fourths of an inch 

 in depth. For a succession, a few seeds of the summer 

 varieties may be sown, at intervals of a fortnight, from 

 April till August. 



Taking the Crop. " When the leaves are two or three 

 inches broad, they will be fit for gathering. This is done 

 either by cutting them up with a knife wholly to the bottom, 

 drawing and clearing them out by the root, or only cropping 

 the large outer leaves, the root and heart remaining to 

 shoot out again. Either method can be adopted, according 

 to the season or other circumstances." Rogers. 



Use. The leaves and young stems are the only parts 



