Page:The family kitchen gardener - containing plain and accurate descriptions of all the different species and varieties of culinary vegetables (IA familykitchengar56buis).pdf/86

 moisture is indispensable to its growth. It should always be cut when about an inch high, using a sharp knife, and cutting close to the ground, holding the tops in one hand whilst the knife is used with the other. They should be carefully washed from earth or sand, allowing them to be as short time in the water as possible; neither should they be gathered long before using, for their flavor would be thereby impaired. As much of this seed is generally required, a portion should be sown very early to produce it. A bed three feet wide and twenty feet long, having the plants four or six inches apart, will produce a sufficiency of seed for every domestic purpose.

THE great advantage this Spinach possesses over the other varieties is that of supplying a crop of leaves in the dryest weather, when crops of other sorts have failed. From its rapidity of growth, a few dozen of plants will afford a supply during its growing season. If a few leaves of Sorrel are boiled with it, the flavor is improved.

.—It is a spreading. towering plant. growing in a circular form, attaining the height of four or five feet. Sow the seed very thinly, in rows one inch deep and two feet apart, about the first week of April, in an open, rich piece of ground. Hoe freely and keep clean of weeds. The seeds, in a green state, make an excellent pickle, for which alone it is worth cultivation.