The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-04-26
Value of Artich0kes.

Quite q favorite In the South, and
one which succeeds to perfection, is
the garden artichoksl CyadrG scolynaus
of LinnRus). It is 9 perennial plant
growing thrifty and coarse, and de-
developing large flower-heads, the
lower parts of which, before they open,
are the edible portions of the product,
We have various ways OF preparing
them. chief among which Is to boil
like cabbage and eat with butter and
pepper, and little salt If the tase willis
it. They are not bad eaten as a salad,
with salt, pepper, vinegar and OIL;
and, treated in the usual way, they
make most excellent pickle.
We cultivate three varieties of the
artichoke in Dixie: The Globe, the Oual
Green and the Purple. All are perfect
" hardy, and while they do better in
consequelceo of beings Southern plant,
they may be grown successfully in
every State in the Union. We wonder
they are not in more general culture,
for they are certainly luxury of rare
merit, and we must say many people
are cheating themselves out OF good
thing by neglecting to give the arti-
choke place in their gardens.
We generally propagate the arti-
choke from seeds, though it can be
propagated very successfully from slips
taken from old plants, where q person
already has a start of it. You can
obtain seeds of any good seedsman-if
at the North, you will be likely to find
them under the name of the Globe arti-
choke; but at the South, it will be well
to INQUIRE for the Bur artichoke, as that
is the name by which we generally dis
tinguish it from another product,
which we shall mention at the close OF
this article. Sow your seed early in
the spring (our rule is to SOW when the
peach blossoms are fairly OUT, making
your rows four feet apart, and letting
your plants stand about eighteen
inches from each other in the rows.
Sow some in beds, and, when the
plants are up few inches, transplant
into proper position. 1t is very good
way, but not the best. we thihk-fOr
the transplanting retards the growth
week at least.
Once the artichoke patch is fairly set,
it requires no further attention, other
than to keep the weeds worked out
flor about five years., after which the
plants 90 into decline, making it
necessary to start new patch.
The better the soil, the better the
artichoke, and, as it is growth which
delights in sunshine, it will not be
amiss to give it southern exposure;
and above all things, care should be
taken not to have it shaded by trees
or buildings during any part Of the
day. A fertilizer we'll adapted to its
wants, is barn-yard manure and
leached hard wood-ashes, in the pro-
portion of three parts OF the former to
one of the latter, cOmposted together
and we'll rotted.
Another plant which we have
promised to notice, is species OF sum
| flower (Helidnthus tuberOSOs,) known
generally as the artichoke, and some
times as the Jerusalem artichoke. 1t
grows well almost verywhere and in
every character of soil. The root is
the edible portion, and though not much
priced a. a vegetable for the table, it is
said to be valuable product for fatten-
ing hogs, and that cattle will feed upon
it with q relish and with profit. Is
generally propagated from the root like
Irish potatoes. Once started, it is per-
ieI.llY III uOl1lO lOA OIL NAhAO ~ NOAAAS
in fact it becomes a weed, which is
hard to exterminate when the ground
Is wanted for some other crops.-[ Rural
Albanian. .-..
Mr.. CT. Jenney, we'll informed
horticulturist driving a f1ourishing
sp,all ffuit farm at Waynesville, Ohio
writes: .........
az have just perused in the "Rural
Alabamian" an article on the several
sorts of artichokes. When living with
nv father we raised from one to four
acres of HelidntIus tuberOsOS each
year. The mich COWS, and the hogs,
did well on them, except they would
scour the stock without we fed other
feed with tie tubers. We never had
| the experience of the artichOke,
being a "hard weed to exterminate."
| We dug and either put the tubers in
the cellar, or buried them for winter
| feeding, and then let the hogs in the
field to clean up the balance, and they
made clean work. Yield, $50 to 200
bushels per acre. l am feeding them
this winter-they make the milk flow.