To supply Spinach in first-rate condition all the year round is not always an easy matter, especially in dry hot localities and in poor sandy soils. At the same time it is a vegetable which is almost daily in demand; hence, although in some respects a simple enough crop to produce at certain seasons, it is of importance to be well versed in the best way of keeping up a supply at times when it is not so easily accomplished.

It being from autumn sowings that the winter and spring supply of this vegetable is got, and as the proper seasons for these sowings are at hand, we will discuss them first. Circumstances must in this case, as in most garden operations, determine the exact time to sow. On late soils and in cold localities, the first sowing for late autumn and winter use should be made early in August; but in the warmer and more genial districts the middle of August is sufficiently early, for it is not so likely to stand the winter so well if too strong before frosts set in. It is, however, best not to trust to one sowing; and a portion should be sown the first week in August, and another ten or twelve days later; so that the first, if too strong for standing the winter, can be more liberally gathered, and the later sowing left for later and early spring supplies. The best variety to sow at this season is the prickly-seeded. The ground should be light and dry rather than the reverse, and deeply trenched and well manured. On damp soils it is an excellent plan to run the ground off into 4-feet beds, and raise them by throwing the soil out of the paths between the beds on to their surface.

The seed should be sown in drills about 14 inches apart; and should the soil be very dry at the time of sowing, steep the seeds for twelve hours in water; and after sowing it, water the drills before closing them. This causes an early and more regular vegetation. Keep the surface of the soil well stirred with the hoe as soon as ever the seed appears above ground; and as soon as it forms the rough leaf, and can be handled, thin it out to 6 inches between plants. The practice of leaving it unthinned, as is often the case, causes the plants to draw up in a weakly state, and is very objectionable, inasmuch as it is never so productive of fine large succulent leaves, and it never stands the winter so well. The ground between the rows should be kept well stirred and fresh throughout the autumn. In taking supplies from it before severe weather, the leaves should be carefully pricked off leaf by leaf, and not torn indiscriminately in handfuls, leaving a mass of broken leaves, which are more likely to suffer in consequence of such mutilation.

During severe black frost some protection should be afforded to the crop, and a very good way of doing so is either to stick some Evergreen boughs between the rows, or to lightly shake a little clean straw over them.

The latest of the two autumn sowings will generally keep up the supply till the round Spinach, generally sown in February or early in March, comes in. Shelter being of great importance in forwarding this early spring sowing, I have found it an excellent way to sow it between the rows of early Peas in a warm south border. In such a position, the Pea-stakes and Peas shelter it from the cold winds of spring, and it is much earlier ready for gathering than when sown in ground exclusively devoted to itself. Up till the middle of June a sowing of round Spinach should be put in every fourteen days; and as it has a great tendency to run to seed without producing leaves that are fit for use in dry warm weather, the ground should be deeply worked and heavily manured; and every sowing should be properly thinned out, as directed for autumn sowings, for if left thick, a crop of tough worthless leaves is the result. Generally a row of Spinach is sown between rows of Peas, and such is a very good position for it in the heat of summer, as it gets shade to some extent from the Peas.

With the most careful management and very frequent sowings, it is not easy to produce fine Spinach in July, August, and September, especially in light sandy soil; and to give a certain supply for this season, the New Zealand Spinach is invaluable. It was discovered on the shores of New Zealand by Captain Cook, and the expeditionists were induced to try it as an esculent, and found it wholesome and agreeable; and it owes its instalment amongst English garden vegetables to Sir Joseph Banks, who introduced it into cultivation about 1772: since then it has been found a much more hardy plant than it was at first considered to be, and is of great importance to every gardener who is required to produce a supply of Spinach daily through the hottest months of the year. The drier and hotter the weather, the more luxuriantly it grows, and a score of plants properly cultivated will yield supply sufficient for a large family from the end of July till the end of October. In England I have seen it come up self-sown, but in this way it is too late to be useful; and it is necessary to sow it in heat about the middle of April, and when ready to be potted put three into a 5-inch pot, and kept in heat till they have well filled the pots.

They are hardened off, and planted out the end of May or early in June. Select a border with southern exposure, and take out pits 6 feet apart, and fill them up with rotten dung and fresh soil in equal proportions. Plant one pot in the centre of each pit, and cover with a hand-glass, and keep them well watered should the weather be dry. As soon as they begin to grow freely the glasses can be removed, and the Spinach will soon cover the whole surface of the ground with a luxuriant growth. This variety often gets destroyed with frost before the August sowings of the Prickly are fit for use, and it is a good plan to sow a large sowing of the Prickly about the middle of July, to fill up the gap that may be occasioned. New Zealand Spinach is much better than the perennial, and ought to be more generally cultivated than it is. The perennial variety may be sown outdoors in April. Some sow it in heat, and then transplant it; but unless it be in very cold places, it does very well sown out doors. D. T.