As Spinach is the only vegetable which can be raised to advantage near the close of the growing season, the gardener should prepare such grounds as may have been occupied by summer crops; and by having it well manured for this crop, the soil will be in good condition for Beets, Carrots, Parsnips, Turnips, etc., the spring following. If the ground be prepared so as to have several beds sown in succession, from the first to the end of September, the most forward of these, if covered up with straw at the approach of cold weather, will furnish greens for the table when other vegetables are scarce, and the later crops will recover from the effects of a hard winter, and produce a wholesome vegetable early in the spring.

If Spinach-seed be sown in rich ground in March and April, it will grow freely; but it must be cut before the approach of hot weather, or it will run to seed. To raise it in perfection at this season, it should be sown in drills about a foot apart, and be frequently hoed. This will keep it in a growing state, and consequently prevent its running up to seed as quick as it otherwise would.

It is altogether useless to sow Spinach-seed in poor ground. Let the ground be well manured, and the crop will be abundant. Be careful to pick Spinach exceeding clean, and wash it in five or six waters previous to cooking. Some cook Spinach in a steamer over boiling water. Others boil it in water. But the best way is to put it into a saucepan that will just hold it, without water, then strew a little salt upon it, and cover it close. Put the saucepan on a clear quick fire; and when you find the Spinach shrunk and fallen to the bottom, and the juice which comes from it boil up, it is done. In order that it may be rendered capable of absorbing a moderate quantity of gravy, melted butter, etc., which are indispensable with green vegetables, let it be well drained in a sieve, or colander, before it is dished.

SQUASH.

GOURDE GIRAUMON OU POTIRON.

Cucurbita melopepa.

The several varieties of Squash are very useful in this and other warm climates, as they can be grown in perfection in the summer, and therefore prove a good substitute for Turnips. The seed should be planted in May and June, in hills, prepared in the same manner as for Cucumbers and Melons; and their subsequent management is the same in every respect. The bush kinds should be planted three or four feet apart, and the running kinds from six to nine, according to their nature, as some will run more than others. It is always best to plant five or six seeds in a hill, to guard against accidents; as when the plants are beyond danger they can be thinned to two or three in a hill.

The fruit of the Early Summer Squash is generally gathered for use before the skin becomes hard, and while it is so tender as to yield to the pressure of the thumb-nail. The winter Squashes should be allowed to ripen, and collected together in October, before they are injured by hard frosts.

All kinds of Squashes should, after having been boiled tender, be pressed as close as possible between two wooden. trenchers, or by means of a slice or skimmer, made of the same material, until dry, and then prepared for the table in the same manner as Turnips.

In order to raise excellent Squashes, good seed is essential, and rich ground and clean cultivation are indispensably necessary. The seeds should be selected from a ripe and good Squash, and not from a hybrid. Manure may be applied in the hill. If the soil be heavy, let a few shovelfuls of sand be mingled with the soil, where each hill is to grow. When the vines grow rampantly, pinch off the ends of each as soon as they have grown as far from the hill as it is desirable for them to spread. There is nothing gained, but much lost, by allowing the main vines and branches also to attain a great length.

Pull off all the Squashes but two or three on each vine. One good squash is better than three or four of an inferior quality and size.

HOW TO EXTERMINATE THE GRUB.

Many times, when the vines are a few feet long, and young Squashes have appeared, grubs may be found in the middle of the vines, near the root. Sometimes I have found six white grubs, more than an inch long, in a single vine. They bore into the vines an inch or two above the surface of the ground; and the holes may be discovered readily, as foam and fecal matter are constantly being worked out by the worms.

In order to dislodge the grubs, thrust a thin blade of a sharp knife through the vine, and split it open so that the grubs can be discovered and killed. This is the only effectual way to raise Squashes when the grub attacks the vines. Laying the vine open will not injure it.

TOMATO.

TOMATE, OU POMME D'AMOUR. Solanum lycopersicum. The Tomato, or Love-Apple, is much cultivated for its fruit, which is used in soups and sauces, to which it imparts an agreeable acid flavor. It is also stewed and dressed in various ways, and is considered very wholesome. The seed should be sown early in the spring, in a hotbed, and the plants set out in the open ground, as soon as the ground has become warm. In private gardens, it will be necessary to plant them near a fence, or to provide trellises. They may be planted four feet distant from each other every way Tomatoes may be brought to perfection late in the summer, by sowing the seed in the open ground the first week in May. These plants will be fit to transplant early in June, and the fruit may ripen in time for preserves or catsup.

MANNER OF PRESERVING TOMATOES.

Tomatoes may be preserved in a stone or glazed earthen pot, for use in the winter, by covering them with water in which a sufficient quantity of salt has been dissolved to make it strong enough to bear an egg. Select perfectly ripe berries, and cover the pot with a plate in such a manner that it will press upon the fruit without bruising it. Previous to cooking these Tomatoes, they should be soaked in fresh water for several hours. Besides the various modes of preparing this delicious vegetable for the table, it may be preserved in sugar, and used either as a dessert or on the tea-table, as a substitute for peaches or other sweetmeats. It also makes good pies and tarts, and excellent catsup.

A celebrated writer observes, that "the common Tomato made into a gravy, by stewing over the fire, and used as a sauce for meat, has been known to quicken the action of the liver and of the bowels better than any medicine he ever made use of; and when afflicted with inaction of the bowels, headache, a bad taste of the mouth, straitness of the chest, and a dull painful heaviness of the region of the liver, the whole of these symptoms are removed by Tomato sauce, and the mind, in the course of some few hours, is put in perfect tune."

HOW TO MAKE CATSUP.

To make catsup, use one pint of salt to one peck of Tomatoes. Bruise, and let them stand two days; then strain them dry, and boil the juice, until the scum ceases to rise, with two ounces of black pepper, the same quantity of pimento or allspice, one ounce of ginger, one of cloves, and half an ounce of mace. Tomatoes are excellent raw, cooked with toasted bread, or eaten in any other way. When I see a dish of luscious peaches and delicious tomatoes side by side, I am in doubt as to which I really like the best, when eaten raw.

TURNIPS. NAVET. Brassica rapa.

The turnip is a wholesome and useful plant for both man and beast, and eminently worthy of cultivation.

“Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valuable root was cultivated only in gardens, or other small spots, for culinary purposes; but Lord Townsend, who attended King George the First in one of his excursions to Germany, in the quality of Secretary of State, observing this root cultivated in open and extensive fields, as fodder for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands naturally barren, on his return to England brought over some of the seed, and strongly recommended the practice which he had witnessed to the adoption of his own tenants, who occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover. The experiment succeeded; the cultivation of Field Turnips gradually spread over the whole county of Norfolk, and has made its way into every other district of England. Some of the finest grain crops in the world are now growing upon land which, before the introduction of the Turnip husbandry, produced a very scanty supply of grass for a few lean and half-starved rabbits." Mr. Colquhoun, in his "Statistical Researches," estimated the value of the Turnip crop annually growing in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, at fourteen million pounds sterling (equal to upwards of SIXTY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS). But when we further recollect, that it enables the agriculturists to reclaim and cultivate land which, without its aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it leaves the land clean and in fine condition, and also insures a good crop of Barley, or of Clover; and that this Clover is found a most excellent preparative for Wheat, it will appear that the subsequent advantages derived from a crop of Turnips must infinitely exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle.

The preceding remarks show the kind of land that may be made capable of producing not only Turnips, but other things of equal value. It must, however, be granted, that