82 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
tlie common orach is more robust, of a bluish or grey-green 
colour, and not quite such a brilliant green when cooked as 
the yellow -leaved plant. 
New Zealand Spinach ( Tetragonia expansa) is a close- 
growing plant that in some degree resembles the ice-plant. 
The seed is sown in heat in April, and the plants are put out 
in May, in the hottest and driest spot that can be found for 
them. The young tops are pinched for spinach, and are very 
nice, but lack the sooty flavour, and so perhaps will suit some 
people to whom the flavour of real spinach is objectionable. 
It is a common occurrence for New Zealand Spinach to be- 
come a weed by sowing its seed from year to year, but when 
a cold wet summer occurs it is likely to be swept off the 
ground, for drought and heat are the conditions that favour 
its growth and increase. 
Substitutes eor Spinach abound, and the Tetragonia 
named above is one of them. The common Fathen, or Good 
King Harry ( Chenopodium Bonus Renricus ) is the best of 
them, and it will generally be found in plenty as a weed on 
the rubbish heap. The young tops, when the plant is growing 
freely, make a delicious spinach, but when the plant runs up 
to flower it is useless. Chenopodium quinoa , a native of 
Peru, promises to become a garden plant for the supply of 
summer spinach. The poke-weeds, and especially the Phyto- 
lacca decandrci , may be used as spinach when young, but is 
scarcely wholesome when fully grown. Any of the amaranths 
may be used as spinach, and especially Amaranthus blitum , 
a native of Britain, and A. oleraceous, a frame or greenhouse 
plant. The tender tops of the gourd or pumpkin vines make 
a very elegant spinach, but their removal is calculated to 
lessen the production of fruit. Finally, the youngest leaves 
of mangold or white beet may be cooked as spinach, but the 
flavour is somewhat earthy, and the removal of the leaves 
does in some degree check the growth of the roots. 
Winter Spinach is sown on rather dry ground, from the 
middle of July to the middle of August, in drills a foot 
apart, and the plants are by degrees thinned to six inches 
apart. It comes into use at the turn of spring, and if the 
weather is not forcing, lasts until the first supply of spring- 
sown spinach is ready. It sometimes happens that the crop 
is destroyed or seriously injured by the obnoxious black grub 
of the Daddy-long-legs ( Tipula oleracea ). To prevent this, 
