Spinach. 151 



SPINAOH. 

 By Charles Dbcknek. 

 The spinach belongs to our winter and early spring veg- 

 etables. It ib a very desirable dish during the winter sea- 

 son when variety is greatly sought. While spinach is not 

 a strictly Southern dish yet its use is annually increased 

 as the taste becomes more and more cultivated. The soil 

 for spinach should be deep and rich, made so by the appli- 

 cation of barnyard manure. The use of commercial ma- 

 nure for spinach could not be recommended unless the 

 land on which it is to grow has been well enriched the pre- 

 vious year with barnyard manure or as an addition to an 

 application to barnyard manure. Spinach, especially for 

 market, should be sown as early in fall as the weather will 

 permit, commencing about the middle of August. Should, 

 however, the weather be hot and dry at this season, sowing 

 must be deferred until the weather is cool and moist. A 

 succession of sowing until the middle of November is ad- 

 visable. Spinach will not germinate in too hot weathei- 

 and if it should come up the hot sun will destroy it. 

 Thousands of pounds of spinach seed are annually lost by 

 planting too soon. Dl*ainage is another material point to 

 consider. Nothing will injure spinach as much and fre- 

 quently destroy it as an excess of water. Surface drain- 

 ing can be made to suffice on upland, but if bottom land is 

 not sufficiently under drained so as to remove the surplus 

 water soon after the heavy winter rains the spinach will 



