KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. ClIAP. 



be good, is the last week in August, and, if the ground 

 be poor, a fortnight earlier. Sow in shallow drills, eight 

 inches apart, and thin the plants to six inches apart in 

 the row : keep them clear of weeds, hoe about them 

 before winter sets in, and draw the earth close up to the 

 stems of the plants, taking care that the dirt do not fall 

 into the hearts. The ground should be rather of the drier 

 description ; for, if wet, and the winter be severe, the 

 plants will be killed. They will' have fine leaves in the 

 month of November, or before : for use, the outside 

 leaves should be taken off first, or, rather, these only 

 should be taken off, leaving all the rest, and they should 

 be pinched off with the finger and the thumb close to the 

 stem of the plant. The plant will keep growing, more 

 or less, all the winter, except in very hard weather, and 

 will keep on yielding a supply from the beginning of 

 November to the latter end of May, when the seed 

 stalks will begin to rise, and when the summer spinage, 

 spwed in the latter end of February and cultivated in the 

 same way as the former, will be ready to supply their 

 place. About the first of May, another sowing of sum- 

 mer spinage should take place j but this will be gene- 

 rally supplanted by peas, beans, and other summer crops. 

 If, however, the reader wish, like me, to have it all the 

 summer, he must sow again in the month of June, and 

 again in the month of July. These two latter sowings 

 being made in the coolest and least sunny part of the 

 garden. As to saving the seed of the spinage, a few 

 plants of each sort will be sufficient. The plants must 

 be pulled up before the seed be dead ripe, or the birds 

 will have every grain. It is a coarse-looking seed, with 

 a thick husk upon it ; but the small birds are very fotod 



