THE KITCHEN GAEDEX- 



106 



the flowers -were single, now there are many double- 

 flowered forms, with large Eose-like hlossoms, and 

 very showy in appearance. 



The Potentilla will thrive in ahnost any soU, 

 but a good stiff, rather sandy, and well-manured 

 one suits it exactly. In this the plants will 

 grow to great size and strength. The PotentiUa 

 is easUy cultivated if it only has a suitable soil, 

 and it is well in the autumn to place some dung 

 about the plants, which may be hghtly forked into 

 the surface in early spring, taking cai-e not to 

 injure the roots. It will flourish in light land 

 if the plants be mulched 

 and watered during the 

 summer. 



And the Potentilla can be 

 propagated by division of 

 the roots in autumn or 

 spring, or by taking off 

 any side growths with 

 roots attached to them 

 when they present them- 

 selves to view. It is the 

 best plan to do this in the 

 spring of the year, when 

 the plants are becoming 

 active, and if the offsets 

 can be put into pots they 

 will root all the more 

 readily. As the Potentilla 

 seeds freely, it can also be 

 increased by sowing seeds, 

 and in this way new and 



improved varieties are obtained. The seed germi- 

 nates best when sown in shallow boxes or seed-pans 

 «oon after being gathered at the end of the summer, 

 and these placed in a cold frame for the winter. Kot 

 that the seeds vegetate much in the autumn, but 

 they germinate in early spring, and fine plants can 

 thus be obtained by the end of the summer for flower- 

 ing the following year. From this stage the plants 

 lapidly increase in size, and form rich masses in 

 beds or borders. 



Selectioii of Sixgle-floweeed Potestillas. 



AtrosaDeniiieah 

 Golden Cnp. 

 Goldfinch. 

 Harlequin. 

 Magnet. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



Br WiLiiAM Easlet. 



Tomatoes. 



k aurea. 

 Smontji. 

 Splendens. 

 Striata multiflora. 



DOUBLE-FLOWEEED PoTEXTILL.iS. 



Alfred Salter. 

 California. 

 Chameleon. 

 nr. Andr6. 

 ^dorado. 

 Hamlet. 

 ■Jane Salter. 

 XfOnis van Houtte. 

 ^Madame Bonillard. 



Mods. Dondin. 



Perfecta plena. 



PhcBbixs. 



Purpurea. 



Tonssaint L'Ooverture. 



Vase d'Or. 



Versicolor. 



Victor Lemoine. 



William Bollisson. 



Spinach, Ifew Zealand {Tetragonia expama). ^ 

 — This is a half-hardy annual, received from the 

 country whence it derives its name. It is of very 

 robust growth, of recumbent habit, and possessing a 

 capacity to withstand dry weather. This character- 

 istic afSrms its great usefulness at such seasons, as 

 the commoner kind is least valuable, owing to its 

 habit of ru nnin g so quickly to seed. New Zealand 

 Spinach, being a half-hardy annual, succeeds best 

 when sown singly in small 

 pots, and raised in a frame 

 or glass structure. Choose 

 sixty-sized pots, and sow 

 three or four seeds in each, 

 to insure that, at least, one 

 will germinate ; should 

 more than two plants form, 

 remove the others. Ten 

 plants win be sufficient, 

 treated eis advised, to give 

 pickings two or three times 

 a week during the season. 

 Double this number should 

 insure a good supply. 

 When the young plants are 

 affirmed in growth, harden 

 them off gradually about 

 May 1st and onward, by 

 placing them in a cold 

 frame for protection, only 

 giving air freely daily and on warm nights. But shut 

 tho lights down in cold weather. Prepare a space 

 for them, consisting of a warm sunny site and light 

 sandy nature, if possible ; work the soU up deeply, 

 mixing therewith a very liberal quantity of manure; 

 such a quantity, in fact, as will raise the soil up 

 somewhat into ridge-shape. The plants so treated 

 ordinarily grow to an extent of about two feet apart, 

 hence abundant room must be given them so to do. 

 About May 22nd carefully place each plant therein. 

 Tom each out of the pot, pressing the roots down 

 firmly into the soil, and water them well in. During 

 the months of June and July, when they grow 

 rapidly, an occasional copious manurial watering will 

 greatly aid the crop. For use gather the largest 

 leaves as they form, taking care not to injure the 

 points of the growing shoots; as such shoots turn 

 upwards from the otherwise prostrate plants, they 

 are readily observed, and injury to them is easilj- 

 avoided. 



Tomato {Zt/copersicitm esctilentum; syn. Solanum 

 Lycopersicnm). Fi-ench, Tomate; Grerman, Liehesapfel; 



