The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-12
VALUE OF ARTICHoKEs.
Good for All Kinds of Live stock-Yields are Immense.

Good for All Kinds of Live stock-Yields
 are Immense.
 | The value of the artichoke is not gen.
 erally understood The following excel
 lent article, written by one who has had
 an extended experience, is we'll worth
 preserving for reference It is from the
 pen of J. c. Suffern, Pratt county. IlIi-
 nois, in the Country Gentleman: Arti- choke tubers are an excellent food for
 all kinds of live stock and poultry, and l their great value as conditioners is fast
 becoming recognized. They are a splen-
 did milk producing food for cows during lthe late autumn and early spring, when grass is scarce. The writer feeds arti-
 choke tubers to his horses Gall live stock must learn to eat them) in con lnection with sunflower seed, oats and corn, from October to June His horses lprefer the tubers to corn or even oats. They help form a change of feed, clean | the worms out of them and keep them l healthy, sleek and fat.
 i Artichokes should never he grown on swampy land, if good yield of tubers l is desired. We'll drained land, which Is underlain with gravel near the surface. | is the ideal land for them, although they
 do well on any good corn land. The
 Mammoth White French, White Jerusa- Hem and Red Jerusalem varieties are the best for general cultivation. They
 do well in every state. Seed tubers can be obtained from almost all reliable seedsmen.
 AS freezing and thawing while in the lground does not in the least injure the tubers of artichokes it is much the bet 1 ter plan to plant them in October or November. The writer cuts the largest ltubers to about three times the size of a l quail egg, and plants them in three and lone-haif-foot rows, with the tubers drilled about eighteen inches apart, and covered with two or three inches of soil.
 They will then be in the ground to get an early start in the spring, and through the means of an early start will grow a strong stalk before the cut
 worin season begins; while if the plant ling be delayed until spring the ground l is often too wet to blow until late, and lthe cut worms often greatly injure the young plants before they get a good | start, and in reality often make the dif- ference between a good crop and fail- lure.
 i According to the writer's long experi- | ence in growing and handling them, the most serious mistake is to grow them on the same land more than two years in succession. They need changing as do other crops Many seed dealers who offer artichoke tubers for sale say that lonly one planting Is needed; that the Iartichoke, being perennial, will repro duce itself year after year without the trouble of replenting or cultivation True enough So will most other crops volunteer" but what do they amount Ito? The artichokes, when permitted to sprout up and grow without cultivation, lalways grow so thickly together that they form an overabundance of tops, with but few and small tubers. In this condition they can be likened to a sown lfield of corn, which furnishes abun- dance of fodder, but very little grain.
 To secure large yield of tubers, and that is the main object in growing them, | they should be planted and cultivated every year, as potatoes, and it pays well
 to do so, when the large yield of tubers | is considered.
 There is a long-standing prejudice
 with many farmers against the cultiva- tion of the artichoke, and indeed many have good reason for prejudice. As there are wild and tame rye, wild and tame lettuce, wild and tame parsnips,
 etc, so there are wild and tame arti-
 chokes. Almost every vegetable and ce- lreal cultivated and used as food for man
 or beast has its namesake in a noxious land oftentimes troublesome weed. The
 wild artichoke is merely a bad weed, producing very few, small and tough in- nutritious tubeTs, and is about as hard to exterminate as is the Canada thistle; while the tame artichoke may be very Ieasily eradicated by sowing the patch
 with oats or blowing under the growing plants when about two feet high. Why. it's as easy as rolling off log"