The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Part 56

This variety is distinguished from the Green Mountain Sorrel by its larger, more blistered, and thinner leaves. The leaf-stems are also longer, and, as well as the nerves and the under surface of the leaf, finely spotted with red. It starts early in spring, and is slow in running up to flower.

GREEN MOUNTAIN SORREL.

This is an improved variety of the Mountain Sorrel, and preferable to any other, from the greater size and abundance of its leaves, which possess much acidity. It is also late in running to flower.

The leaves are large, numerous, ovate-sagittate, from ten to eleven inches long, and nearly five inches in width; the radical leaves are slightly blistered, and of a dark, s.h.i.+ning green color. It can only be propagated by dividing the roots.

The plants require a s.p.a.ce of eighteen inches between the rows, and a foot from plant to plant in the rows.

SPINACH.

Spinacia oleracea.

Spinach is a hardy annual, of Asiatic origin. When in flower, the plant is from two to three feet in height; the stem is erect, furrowed, hollow, and branching; the leaves are smooth, succulent, and oval-oblong or halberd-shaped,--the form varying in the different varieties. The fertile and barren flowers are produced on separate plants,--the former in groups, close to the stalk at every joint; the latter in long, terminal bunches, or cl.u.s.ters. The seeds vary in a remarkable degree in their form and general appearance; those of some of the kinds being round and smooth, while others are angular and p.r.i.c.kly: they retain their vitality five years. An ounce contains nearly twenty-four hundred of the p.r.i.c.kly seeds, and about twenty-seven hundred of the round or smooth.

_Soil and Cultivation._--Spinach is best developed, and most tender and succulent, when grown in rich soil. For the winter sorts, the soil can hardly be made too rich.

It is always raised from seeds, which are sown in drills twelve or fourteen inches apart, and three-fourths of an inch in depth. The seeds are sometimes sown broadcast; but the drill method is preferable, not only because the crop can be cultivated with greater facility, but the produce is more conveniently gathered. For a succession, a few seeds of the summer varieties may be sown, at intervals of a fortnight, from April till August.

_Taking the Crop._--"When the leaves are two or three inches broad, they will be fit for gathering. This is done either by cutting them up with a knife wholly to the bottom, drawing and clearing them out by the root, or only cropping the large outer leaves; the root and heart remaining to shoot out again. Either method can be adopted, according to the season or other circ.u.mstances."--_Rogers._

_To raise Seed._--Spinach seeds abundantly; and a few of the fertile plants, with one or two of the infertile, will yield all that will be required for a garden of ordinary size. Seeds of the winter sorts should be saved from autumn sowings, and from plants that have survived the winter.

_Use._--The leaves and young stems are the only parts of the plant used.

They are often boiled and served alone; and sometimes, with the addition of sorrel-leaves, are used in soups, and eaten with almost every description of meat. "The expressed juice is often employed by cooks and confectioners for giving a green color to made dishes. When eaten freely, it is mildly laxative, diuretic, and cooling. Of itself, it affords little nourishment. It should be boiled without the addition of water, beyond what hangs to the leaves in rinsing them; and, when cooked, the moisture which naturally comes from the leaves should be pressed out before being sent to the table. The young leaves were at one period used as a salad."--_M'Int._

_Varieties._--

FLANDERS SPINACH. _Trans._

This is a winter Spinach, and is considered superior to the p.r.i.c.kly or Common Winter Spinach, which is in general cultivation during the winter season in our gardens. It is equally hardy, perhaps hardier.

The leaves are doubly hastate or halberd shaped, and somewhat wrinkled: the lower ones measure from twelve to fourteen inches in length, and from six to eight in breadth. They are not only larger, but thicker and more succulent, than those of the p.r.i.c.kly Spinach. The whole plant grows more bushy, and produces a greater number of leaves from each root; and it is sometimes later in running to seed. The seeds are like those of the Round or Summer Spinach, but larger: they are dest.i.tute of the p.r.i.c.kles which distinguish the seeds of the Common Winter Spinach.

For winter use, sow at the time directed for sowing the Large p.r.i.c.kly-seeded, but allow more s.p.a.ce between the rows than for that variety; subsequent culture, and treatment during the winter, the same as the p.r.i.c.kly-seeded.

LARGE p.r.i.c.kLY-SEEDED SPINACH.

Large Winter Spinach. Epinard d'Angleterre. _Vil._

Leaves comparatively large, rounded at the ends, thick and succulent. In foliage and general character, it is similar to some of the round-seeded varieties; but is much hardier, and slower in running to seed. It is commonly known as "Winter Spinach," and princ.i.p.ally cultivated for use during this portion of the year. The seeds are planted towards the last of August, in drills a foot apart, and nearly an inch in depth. When well up, the plants should be thinned to four or five inches apart in the drills; and, if the weather is favorable, they will be stocky and vigorous at the approach of severe weather. Before the closing-up of the ground, lay strips of joist or other like material between the rows, cover all over with clean straw, and keep the bed thus protected until the approach of spring or the crop has been gathered for use.

LETTUCE-LEAVED SPINACH.

Epinard a Feuille de Laitue. _Vil._ Epinard Gaudry.

Leaves very large, on short stems, rounded, deep-green, with a bluish tinge, less erect than those of the other varieties, often blistered on the surface, and of thick substance. It is neither so early nor so hardy as some others; but it is slow in the development of its flower-stalk, and there are few kinds more productive or of better quality. The seeds are round and smooth. For a succession, a sowing should be made at intervals of two weeks.

"A variety called 'Gaudry,' if not identical, is very similar to this."

SORREL-LEAVED SPINACH.

Leaves of medium size, halberd-formed, deep-green, thick, and fleshy. A hardy and productive sort, similar to the Yellow or White Sorrel-leaved, but differing in the deeper color of its stalks and leaves.

SUMMER OR ROUND-LEAVED SPINACH.

Round Dutch. Epinard de Hollande. _Vil._

Leaves large, thick, and fleshy, rounded at the ends, and entire, or nearly entire, on the borders.

This variety is generally grown for summer use; but it soon runs to seed, particularly in warm and dry weather. Where a constant supply is required, a sowing should be made every fortnight, commencing as early in spring as the frost leaves the ground. The seeds are round and smooth. Plants from the first sowing will be ready for use the last of May or early in June.

In Belgium and Germany, a sub-variety is cultivated, with smaller and deeper-colored foliage, and which is slower in running to flower. It is not, however, considered preferable to the Common Summer or Round-leaved.

WINTER OR COMMON p.r.i.c.kLY SPINACH.

Epinard ordinaire. _Vil._

Leaves seven or eight inches long, halberd-shaped, deep-green, thin in texture, and nearly erect on the stalk of the plant; seeds p.r.i.c.kly.

From this variety most of the improved kinds of p.r.i.c.kly Spinach have been obtained; and the Common Winter or p.r.i.c.kly-seeded is now considered scarcely worthy of cultivation.

YELLOW SORREL-LEAVED SPINACH.

White Sorrel-leaved Spinach. Blond a Feuille d'Oseille. _Vil._

The leaves of this variety are similar in form and appearance to those of the Garden Sorrel. They are of medium size, entire on the border, yellowish-white at the base, greener at the tips, and blistered on the surface.

New. Represented as being hardy, productive, slow in the development of its flower-stalk, and of good quality.

WILD OR PERENNIAL SPINACH.

Good King Henry. Tota Bona. Goose-foot. Blitum Bonus Henricus.

A hardy perennial plant, indigenous to Great Britain, and naturalized to a very limited extent in this country. Its stem is two feet and a half in height; the leaves are arrow-shaped, smooth, deep-green, undulated on the borders, and mealy on their under surface; the flowers are numerous, small, greenish, and produced in compact groups, or cl.u.s.ters; the seeds are small, black, and kidney-shaped.