CHAPTER XVII. 



POT-HERB CROPS. 



POT-HERB crops are " greens," grown for 

 their leaves. Unless the growth be quick 

 and continuous, the leaves will not be 

 crisp and tender. Quick and continuous growth 

 can be secured only by having the soil in good 

 condition and giving the crop careful tillage. 

 Furthermore, greens are mostly surface feeders, 

 so that the surface soil must be in excellent 

 tilth, and contain much plant food. They 

 demand cool weather and are usually grown as 

 succession- or companion-crops, because they 

 do not require the whole season to mature. 



SPINACH. 



Spinach is a spring crop and a fall crop, be- 

 cause spring and fall give the cool, moist tem- 

 perature it needs to come to perfection. Spin- 

 ach belongs to the pigweed family and is a 

 cousin to the beet. There are two varieties, the 

 prickly seeded and the round seeded. The 

 prickly seeded is the hardiest, and is most 

 commonly used for fall sowing. 



Farmers in the North used to grow spinach 

 extensively under glass, but of late years the 

 large out-door crops grown around Norfolk, 



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