Vegetable or Garden Weed?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 253, 24 November 1903, Page 4

Vegetable or Garden Weed?

It would seem that New Zealanders have treated as a pest what is really an ediblo plant. The editor of the Australasian Hen has recommended the common weed "fat lien," when chopped, as a green food for poultry. A correspondent asked for some particulars about "fat hen," as he did not know it, and the' editor replied that most people knew it, and stated that he had often eaten it as spinach. He alse referred the question to the Director of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, who sent him a scientific description »f tho plant, and the papers included a letter to the Director of the Kew Gardens. London, from A. R. Kremlin, New South Wales, dated 1897, in which the writer says :—"I send herewith a small packet, containing a few seeds of a native vegetable, although only treated, generally, as a weed. The vulgar name it has is 'fat hen.' Poultry are fond of it but those who use it as an article of diet call it Australian spinach. I don't remember ever seeing a similar plant at Home. In my earlydays, when in the bush, far away from centres of population, I have been glad to eat this, and enjoyed it too, being unable to obtain vegetables, and in my opinion—also of others—think it superior to spinach as it does not taste tarthy, and does not waste so much in boilirig. It is everywhere a hardy plant, growing freely at the sea level and ou the high tablelands of this colony. Any soil suits it, but it revels in a sandy loam, and does well with a fair share of moisture. The more rapidly it grows, the more succulent and tender it is. Sow about the middle of May ; transplant as cabbage, and when a foot to eighteen inches high take about six or eight inches off the top. The portion left will throwout abundant lateral shoots, right up to ear-y winter ; if left without topping, will reach five feet high. The shoots become stringy if no t taken away when young. Hoping I gave sent you something new, and that it may be of use, or a fresh plant for food." There is little need to introduce fat hen into this col- i ony, since it already has a pretty firm hold in some districts, and has become very much akin to a garden pen. The plant, if allowed (o mature, seeds heavily, and spreads like wild-fire. In New Zealand, ns well as in Australia., the plant has been used as a vegetable, but is not ge»erally recognised as such.