germinative powers five years.

_Propagation and Culture._--It is always raised from seed, which may be
sown in the open ground from April to July. Select a rich, moist soil,
pulverize it well, and rake the surface smooth. Make the drills three
feet apart, and an inch and a half or two inches deep; and sow the seed
thinly, or so as to secure a plant for each foot of row. In five or six
weeks from the planting, the branches will have grown sufficiently to
allow the gathering of the leaves for use. If the season should be very
dry, the plants will require watering. They grow vigorously, and, in
good soil, will extend, before the end of the season, three feet in each
direction.

_Gathering._--"The young leaves must be pinched or cut from the
branches; taking care not to injure the ends, or leading shoots. These
shoots, with the smaller ones that will spring out of the stalks at the
points where the leaves have been gathered, will produce a supply until
a late period in the season; for the plants are sufficiently hardy to
withstand the effects of light frosts without essential injury.

"Its superiority over the Common Spinach consists in the fact, that it
grows luxuriantly, and produces leaves of the greatest succulency, in
the hottest weather."

Anderson, one of its first cultivators, had but nine plants, which
furnished a gathering for the table every other day from the middle of
June. A bed of a dozen healthy plants will afford a daily supply for the
table of a large family.

_Seed._--To raise seed, leave two or three plants in the poorest soil of
the garden, without cutting the leaves. The seeds will ripen
successively, and should be gathered as they mature.

_Use._--It is cooked and served in the same manner as Common Spinach.

There are no described varieties.

* * * * *

ORACH.

Arrach. French Spinach. Mountain Spinach. Atriplex hortensis.

Orach is a hardy, annual plant, with an erect, branching stem, varying
in height from two to four feet, according to the variety. The leaves
are variously shaped, tut somewhat oblong, comparatively thin in
texture, and slightly acid to the taste; the flowers are small and
obscure, greenish or reddish, corresponding in a degree with the color
of the foliage of the plant; the seeds are small, black, and surrounded
with a thin, pale-yellow membrane,--they retain their vitality three
years.

_Soil and Culture._--It is raised from seed sow