164 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
beautiful, from tlie young shoots being so pendulous and graceful. The plants 
are now nearly 4 feet in height, and fully exposed to the south-west winds, but I 
do not find they suffer like the common Hemlock Spruce when so exposed. It is 
well known that the common Hemlock Spruce is one of our most graceful lawn 
plapts in sheltered situations, but altogether this new species far excels it, from its 
more rapid growth, hardiness, and more weeping habit. The foliage and shoots 
of the Abies Albertiana are smaller and more glaucous than the common Hemlock 
Spruce, and it seems to me to be a more rapid grower, at least when young. 
WelbecTc. William Tillery. 
SPINACH. 
Spinach is a vegetable which is in general demand the whole year round, and 
in some localities and in certain soils it is sometimes no easy matter to supply it 
in first-rate condition. 
To keep up a proper supply every month in the year it is necessary, to do so 
with success, to grow three varieties—viz., the Prickly-leaved, the Pound-leaved, 
and that more recently introduced variety known as Tetragona expansa or New 
Zealand Spinach. 
The winter and spring supply of this vegetable is got from autumn sowings, 
which should be of the Prickly variety, as being the hardier of the two varieties 
commonly used. The proper time for sowing winter Spinach must be deter¬ 
mined by circumstances. In most parts of England the middle of August is 
sufficiently early ; for if it becomes too strong before winter it is not so likely to 
stand so well. It is however, very unwise to trust to one sowing alone. My own 
practice has been to make a sowing about the beginning of August, and another 
about the 15th. The earlier sowing affords a plentiful late autumn and early 
winter supply, while the latter is not so likely to become too strong, and suffer 
from severe frost, and gets into good using condition in the more advanced period 
of winter and spring. In later districts these sowings should of course be made 
a week or ten days earlier. The ground should be light rather than heavy, in 
order to stand the winter well. Deep trenching and a good dressing of rich 
manure are indispensable to a good crop. The seed should be sown in drills 15 or 
16 inches apart. If the weather and soil be dry the seed should be steeped for 
twelve hours before sowing, and the drills watered before the seed is covered in. 
This promotes a more robust and rapid vegetation than when the dry seed is 
committed to a dusty dry soil. As soon as the crop appears above ground the 
surface of the soil should be kept well stirred with the hoe, and as soon as the 
rough leaf is formed the plants should be thinned out to 6 inches from plant to 
plant. The system of leaving the crop unthinned altogether, or of partially 
thinning it, is never productive of such fine succulent leaves as when well thinned 
out; and when allowed to grow up thickly together the plant is more tender, and 
not so likely to stand the winter so well. Throughout all the autumn it is of 
great importance to keep the surface of the ground between the rows well stirred 
with the Dutch hoe. 
The latter of these two autumn sowings will generally be found to keep up 
the supply till the Hound Spinach sown in a warm border in February comes in. 
In severe winters, and especially during severe black frosts, it is necessary to 
afford some slight protection to at least part of the crop. Evergreen boughs 
stuck in amongst it is a good plan of protecting it from the withering effects 
of frosty winds, as also from sudden thaws by sunshine, which are sometimes more 
destructive to it than any amount of frost. Another point of some importance, 
in as far as the welfare of the crop and supply is concerned, is that care should 
be taken in gathering it for use that it is not carelessly and indiscriminately 
performed. It should be gone over, and the larger leaves taken singly, and 
instead of tearing them off to nip them off by the footstalk. The more the young 
leaves are torn the more likely is the supply to run short, and the plants to suffer 
from the severity of the weather. 
For early summer supply a sowing of the Hound-leaved variety should be 
made in a warm south border, as early in February as the weather and state of 
