The Home VegetabeE Garden 
29 
SPINACH 
This is a plant grown in the early spring and late fall for 
“greens.” While grown extensively in some sections its cultiva¬ 
tion in the home garden should be more general. It is superior to 
any other salad plant grown for boiling. 
Being a hardy vegetable, it is planted very early in the spring 
for the early crop. The seed may be sown thickly in rows 12 to 
18 inches apart and the plants thinned out when well up. 
For fall use, the seed are sown in July or August, and the 
crop is ready to harvest before severe weather sets in. 
Varieties .—Long Season and Victoria. 
SQUASH 
There are two general types of squashes, known as summer 
and winter squashes. The former includes the summer crook- 
neck, the scallop squash, and the cymling of the south, while the 
latter includes the “late-keeping” varieties like the Hubbard. The 
summer squashes require a much shorter period for maturing and 
are better adapted to localities where the growing season is short. 
Squashes are planted about the same time as corn. Rows are 
laid off 4 to 8 feet apart, depending on variety, and six to ten 
seeds planted in each hill, the hills being placed from 4 to 8 feet 
apart in the rows. The seed are covered about 1 inch deep and 
when the plants are well up and danger from insects is past they 
are thinned to two or three plants in a hill. Subsequent cultiva¬ 
tion consists in keeping down weeds with an occasional stirring 
of the soil. 
For early planting, the seed may be sown in berry boxes in 
the hotbed, as suggested for cucumbers, and transplanted to the 
open after danger of frost is past. 
The summer squashes are edible only before the shell begins 
to harden. As long as it is possible to cut through the skin with 
a slight pressure of the thumbnail, the squash is in edible condi¬ 
tion, but after it becomes more resistant, it is not fit to be put on 
the market. 
With the late-keeping kinds, however, the harder and more 
resistant the shell, the better. This type is not used until mature, 
and their hard shells enable them to be kept for some time in stor¬ 
age. In harvesting them, a small portion of the stem should be 
left attached to the squash and care observed not to bruise the 
fruits. They should be left in the field as long as possible in the 
fall, but must not be subjected to freezing weather. They will 
keep fairly well in dry, comparatively dark, cellars where the 
temperature ranges from 38° to 45° F. 
