The Portland daily press., 1877-03-05
THE PRESS.
The ArtichOke.

line Jerusalem Artichoke (Heltanthus
Iuoerosas) is a well.known plant which has
peen cultivated for many years-more in this
country as vegetable curiosity-but in Eng
land and France it finds place in the mar
kets, sometimes bringing higher price than
potatoes. There is no probability that it will
ever be so extensively introduced as to be a
rival, or even a substitute for the potato; but
1t nevertheless surpasses it ia its exemption
from disease, and in Its hardness, which en-
ables it to remain in the ground through the
winter, entirely uniniured by the frost. The
stalks also possess valuable properties, fitting
them to be used for the manufacture of tex
tile fabrics, by pursuing process similar to
that used in the preparation of hemp. With
similar culture the roots yield thirty per cent.
more than the potato; and if the land is poor
they will produce at least double the quantity
per acre that can be raised with the potato,
and the expense of culture is no more.
AS we think that the artichoke is worthy OF
some experimental cultivation by farmers
generally, we are glad to see that it is receiv-
ing more attention. A. S. Fuller, the we'll
known nurseryman of New York, recon-
mends the long purple and round white vari-
cites as exceedingly valuable food for all
kinds of farm stock. DR.. Hexamer who has
an excellent reputation as practical and
scientific agriculturalist. in a recent letter to
the RuraI New Yorker says: "I am pleased
to see that you speak a good word for
the unjustly abused Jerusalem Arti-
choke. l have grown it for years, and do
not know of another crop that gives as large
aud as sure return for the amount of labor
and land expended. Last spring, when
planting potatoes, the soil at one end Of the
field was considered too poor for them, and
L decided to drop artichokes in the eight re-
naming burrows in exactly the same manner
as the potatoes. They were plowed and
and hilled simultaneously with the latter,
but received no hoeing and required no bug
killing. The yield of the artichokes
covering $500 square feet or about
one-twelfth of an acre, was 20 bushels of fine
large tubers; while the adjoining sc rows of
potatoes, covering $4,000 square feet, yielded
but Is barrels of medium sized potatoes.
Had the entire field been planted with arti-
chokes, the return at this rate wou Id have
been 1S5 barrels. l have heard it recon-
mended to top the stalks, so as to prevent
their blossoming, agreeably to the theory
that the sap which would otherwise be ex-
pended in developing the flowers and ripen-
ing the seed would add to the growth of the
tubers. To satisfy myself in regard to the
correctness of this theory, topped two rows
just at the time when the first flowers ap-
peared. These two rows were dug and meas
ured separately, and the result was, that
each of the two rows yielded one-half bush
ell less than either of the adjoining six rows,
which were allowed to develop their flowers
and Seeds"
Any one proposing to experiment with arti-
chokes, will do well to remember when the
time for digging comes, that they had better
be entirely removed from the ground as the
smallest tuber or part of one is pretty sure to
vegetate, and thus whole field may be over
run.