\Vhen spinach seed is wanted, the plants are thinned out to at least a foot separate. A very few plants with stamini ferous spikes are sufficient for fertilizing a considerable row of the female or seed-bearing plants. The seed ri pens in August ; it should be covered with a net, small birds being very fond of it.
White Beet.
347. The White Beet (Beta Cicla, L. ; Pentandria Digy nia ; Atriplices, Juss.) is a biennial plant, a native of Portu gal and Spain. This has been known and cultivated in gardens since the days of Gerarde and Parkinson ; not for the sake of the roots, which are generally small, seldom larger than a person's thumb, but for the lower leaves and their foot stalks : the leaves are thick and succulent, and are boiled as a spinach, or put into soups. There is a larger variety, call ed the great white or sweet beet, of which the stalks and midribs of the leaves are stewed and eaten as asparagus, under the name of chard.
\Vhite beet is sown in the beginning of March, on an open spot of ground. When the plants have put out four leaves, they are hoed and thinned out to at least four inches asun der. A month afterwards, a second hoeing is given, and the plants are left perhaps eight inches separate. The outer leaves being first picked for use, a succession is af forded for the whole season. The plants endure for two years, but it is best to make a small sowing annually. When beet-chards are wanted, the plants are frequently wa tered during summer ; they are kept protected with litter over winter, and hare earth heaped against them. In this way the chards may be had till the approach of the follow ing summer.
343. A variety, by some considered a hybrid, between the red and the white beet, having very large roots, as well as large leaves, was introducedinto this country about the year 17;36, chiefly by the exertions of the late distinguished Dr John Coakley Lettsom. It was called, in Germany, Man gold-Wurzel, or Beet-Root ; but Abbe Commerell, in re commending it in France, having mistaken Mangold, beet, for Mangel, want, converted the name into Racine de Di sette ; and in this country we have sanctioned the blunder, by adopting the name, Root of Scarcity. Of this variety most of the roots weigh 10Ib. or 12ib.; in rich and deep soil, often 20Ib. Some which grew in the island of St Helena weighed above 50Ib. each. The seed is sown in March ; and the seedlings, when their roots are the size of goose-quills, are transplanted into rows a foot and a half distant, and nearly as much apart in the rows. In transplanting, the leaves
are cut over at top, but the roots are not touched ; and the tap root is not fully sunk in the soil, but only so deep as that half an inch may project above ground. The root is rather coarse for table use, but excellent for cattle. The mid-rib of the leaf, dressed like asparagus, is pretty good.
Orache.
349. Garden Orache, or Mountain Spinach, (?triplex hor tensis, L. ; Polygarnia 11.Ioncecia ; Atriplices, Juss.) is an an nual plant, a native of Tartary. The stem rises three feet high ; the leaves are various in shape, thick, pale green, and glaucous, and of a slightly acid flavour. There are two varieties, the White or pale green, and the Red or pur ple. Orache was formerly much cultivated as a spinach ; but now it is less frequently sown. Some, however, pre fer it to common spinach, and it is much used in France. It is sown in drills, in autumn, soon after the seed is ripe ; and the plants are thinned out, next spring, to four inches asunder. The stalks are good only while the plant is young ; but the larger leaves may be picked off in succes sion throughout the season, leaving the stalks untouched, and the smaller leaves to increase in size ; and still the spinach thus procured will be found very tender.
, Wild Spinach.
350. Wild Spinach, or Good Henry, (Chenopodium bonus Henricus, L.; Pentandria Digynia ; Atriplices, Juss.) is a perennial plant, indigenous to Britain, growing by roach-sides in many places. It is figured in Sowerby's English Bo tany," pl. 1033. The stem rises rather more than a foot high ; it is round and smooth at the base, but upwards it becomes somewhat grooved and angular; it is covered with minute transparent powder y globules. The leaves are large, alternate, triangular arrow-shaped, and entire un the the edges. While young and tender, it makes no despi cable substitute for spinach. Curtis mentions, that in some parts of Lincolnshire it is greatly esteemed, and cul tivated in gardens in preference to common spinach. Vith ering observes, that the young shouts, peeled and Ailed, may be eaten as asparagus, which they resemble in flavour. The leaves are often boiled in broth, of which they form a very palatable ingredient.