520 
SPINACH. 
noxious qualities may be contained in any 
putrid substances within their reach, that 
even the few species which may be safely 
eaten when they grow on a dry and open soil, 
acquire a poisonous nature when they grow 
contiguous to stagnant water and to certain 
kinds of vegetal matter ; and so tenaciously 
do they retain the poison, that Parmentier 
could not separate it from them, either by 
boiling or distillation ; wherefore its precise 
nature yet remains to be discovered. In 
Brande's Journal, it is observed, that when- 
ever a fungus is pleasant in flavour and 
odour, it may be considered harmless ; but if 
it have an offensive smell, a bitter, astringent, 
or styptic taste, or even if it leave an un- 
pleasant flavour in the mouth, it should not be 
considered fit for food. Their colour, figure, 
and texture, do not afford any characters on 
which we can safely rely ; yet it may be re- 
marked, that the pure yellow, golden, blush- 
white, dark or shining brown, wine-red, or 
the violet coloured ones, belong to many that 
are eatable ; whilst the pale or sulphur- 
yellow, bright or blood-red, and the greenish, 
belong to few but the poisonous. The safe 
kinds have generally a compact brittle 
texture and white flesh, and grow more 
readily in open places, such as dry pastures 
and waste lands, than in moist or shaded 
places. Those are generally suspicious which 
grow in caverns and subterranean passages, 
or on animal matter undergoing putrefaction, 
as well as those whose flesh is soft or watery. 
There are some persons with whom mush- 
Tooms never agree. Cobbett mentions that 
whenever he ate them, his body, face, and 
hands would soon afterwards become covered 
with numbers of red spots or pimples. 
Some species of Boletus yield, of their own 
accord, crystals of oxalic acid ; and the cham- 
pignon {Agaricus pratensis) and some others 
are supposed to contain prussic acid. Bra- 
connot found by analysis, that the Fungi 
contain two peculiar substances, called fungin 
and holetic acid. What little of a nutritive 
nature they possess, — for they are not very 
nourishing, — appears to reside in the fungin, 
which is always white, soft, and tasteless. 
When burnt, it emits a smell like bread, and 
on distillation it affords a brownish oil, be- 
sides ammonia and charcoal ; and the latter 
product from it contains phosphate of lime, 
carbonate of lime, phosphate of alumina, 
silica (or flint), and sulphuretted hydrogen 
gas — constituents which sufiiciently declare 
that it has the characteristics of both vegetal 
and animal matter, and moreover, when it is' 
left to putrefy in water, it first smells like 
putrid vegetal matter ; and subsequently, like 
putrid animal matter. Boletic acid, in which 
probably resides both the flavour and the 
poison of the Fungi, tastes like cream of 
tartar, exhibits irregular white prismatic 
crystals, is unaffected by exposure to the 
atmosphere, but dissolves in forty-five times 
its own weight of alcohol, or in one hundred 
and eighty times its own weight of water, 
when the latter is at sixty-eight degrees of 
temperature. 
SPINACH. 
There is hardly a more favourite vegetable 
than spinach, and none more easily cultivated. 
There are two kinds that may be considered 
the most popular, and are in universal de- 
mand : the round-leaved and the prickly ; the 
former best in all the spring months, the latter 
superior for winter; but we have known the 
round-leaved sort do well sown in autumn, 
but it is not generally the case. The ground 
for spinach cannot well be too rich ; the 
quicker it grows, the milder and better it is ; 
and, therefore, well-manured ground is fa- 
vourable. 
SOWING THE SEED. 
This may be done in drills, or broadcast ; 
that is, spread all over the space. It is best 
to sow after rain, when the ground is mode- 
rately moist and works well. In drilling, 
the rows must be six inches apart, and not 
deeper than two inches. The seed must be 
sown so ■ thinly that no two plants shall be 
together, and the earth be drawn down into 
the drill to cover slightly. When the seed is 
well up, cut out all the spare plants, so as to 
leave the remainder six inches apart in the 
rows. After this has been done a fortnight 
or so, they must be cleared and thinned 
again ; because you will see here and there a 
plant that has escaped your first hoeing. In 
the early spring months and while there is no 
danger of running to seed, the large leaves 
may be picked off and eaten ; but the common 
practice is to let them grow till they are 
large enough, and then take them up and eat 
all but the root. However, the respective 
plans will not be alike in all cases ; but in 
genei'al there is no great difference in the 
result. In sowing broadcast, the ground is 
levelled after being well dug and dressed, and 
the seed is scattered all over the surface per- 
fectly even and very thin ; and the ground 
should be raked until the whole is covered up. 
It is as well to make some preparation for the 
attacks of birds; for when they one and all do 
their part towards clearing a piece before the 
place is dry from the sowing, unless you 
stop them by some means, they take but a 
short time to clear a bed. 
THINNING OUT THE PLANTS. 
When the seed is sown in drills six inches 
