e crop early, as it
should not be in the least drawn. This is the only essential point in
securing a fine growth, for if the plant cannot spread from the
beginning it will never become luxuriant, and will soon run up to seed.
Thin at first to six inches, and if large enough for use, send the
thinnings into the house. Before the leaves overlap thin finally to
twelve inches. Every plant will cover the space, and it will suffice to
take the largest leaves, two or three only from each plant, and thus a
basket may be filled in a few minutes with really fine Spinach.

As the heat of the summer increases, the crop will be inclined to bolt.
The starved plant will bolt first; the plant in rich moist soil, with
plenty of room to spread, will be more leisurely about it, and will give
time for the production of a succession crop to take its place. The
sowings from May to July should be small and numerous, and on rich moist
land, to be aided, if needful, with water. In many gardens there is a
sufficient variety of vegetables after the middle of June to render it
unnecessary to keep up the supplies of Spinach, and it is best to
dispense with it, if possible, during July and August.

==Winter Spinach.==--The sowing of Winter Spinach should commence in
July, and be continued until the end of September, subject to the
capabilities of the place. In gardens near towns, where the land is at
all heavy, it is generally useless to sow after August, as the autumnal
fogs are likely to destroy a plant that is only just out of the
seed-leaf. But in favoured localities, with a warm soil and a soft air,
seed may be sown up to the very end of the year with but little risk of
loss. The winter crops are sometimes sown broadcast, but drilling is to
be preferred, and the rows may be twelve to fifteen inches apart. Thin
at first to three inches, and afterwards to six inches, and leave them
at this distance, for Winter Spinach may be a little crowded with
advantage, because the weather and the black bot will now and then
remove a plant. Should ground vermin claim attention, the best way to
proceed will be to scratch shallow furrows very near the plants, taking
care not to injure them. This may be done with the hoe, but if time can
be spared it will be better to do it with a short pointed stick, having
at hand, as the work progresses, a vessel into which to throw the grubs
as they come to light when the earth is disturbed. Where small birds are
in suffici