The Glenwood post., 1919-02-22
ARTIoHoKE Is CALLED
NEGLECTED SOURCE OF FOOD

done more for the race than the states
man, and certainly Luther Burbank
has done more for mankind than any
lawgiver who has come out of Califor.
mia. We are learning to appreciate the
men who are delving into the secret:
of nature and are showing us how to
use the manifold blessings scattered
about us with profusion which We
little suspect. In the middle ages mer
who experimental with chemistry and
| physics were looked upon as sorcerers
in league with the devil. If they were
found out they met the fate of the ma
gician and the witch. As the world
became tolerant it ceased to persecutt
| the scientist, but it failed to take hin
seriously. He was looked upon as a
freak; he was a subject for the comic
poet and the dramatist. The professor
with the green goggles, the long hair
the absent mind and the butterfly not
was a familiar object on the stage
and still occasionally walks the boards
The man who chased bugs and worms
who "fooled''. with pollen and roots
or who risked his life in deserts, jun
giles, or arctic wastes to find new plant:
and animals was considered by Tom,
Dick and Harry as a harmless lunatic
But all this has changed in the last
generation. Our schools, colleges and
universities have taught new poInc
of view. We have learned the inesti-
mable value of the work of the scient-
ist. The names of Edison, Luther Bur.
bank, John Muir, Fabre and John Bur
They have brought nature close to us
and have shown us how to use it. They
have driven the dismal ont of religion
and have opened the antechambers to
the palace of the creator. New op-
timism has crept in through the door
During the war our scientists began
to search mainly in three directions: ::
To find substitutes for the things made
in Germany, to increase efficiency in
the mastery of forces and to unearth
new sources of food supply. To this
last activity belongs a series of inter
esting experiments made by T. D. A.
Cockerell, professor of zoology at the
University of Colorado.
Professor Cockerell has lived for
many years in New Mexico and Colo
RADIO. He knows the fauna and flora Of
the Rocky mountains probably better
than any other living man. During the
war, when the United States began to
face a serious food situation, Professor
Cockerell began to search for plants
which would add to the food supply.
The investigation brought him to the
conclusion that the American people
had ungratefully crossed off the bill of
fare the Jerusalem artichoke.
This valuable plant is a sunflower
known to botanists as the helianthus
tuberosus. 1t bears a mass of tubers
which are valuable food for animals
and man. With the exception of certain
products from Mexico, it is the only
contribution of North America to the
vegetable garden of the world. 1t was
known to the Indians, who used it en-
tensively, but it is now little cultivated
in America, although it long ago got =
firm hold in Europe. Professor Cock
erell found that it was used to a slight
extent as hog feed in Arkansas, Col
orado, Nebraska, South Dakota and
Wisconsin, and that few raised it in
their gardens for table purposes. No
one in the United States had seemed to
appreciate that it could be made q
near favorite of the potato.
In 1917 Professor Cockerell and his
wife IA well known botanist) decided
to experiment with the white variety.
The tubers were planted three feet
apart in the rows and the rows were
two feet apart.
No fertilizer was used, but the soil
was good. The yield was found to be
9.66 tons to the acre.
1t is claimed that the Jerusalem arti-
choke is superior to common beets aud
turn.ps for hogs, and about equal to
potatoes. 1t should be fed as a mixed
ration. Three bushels of tubers fed
with one bushel of corn in the winter
are said to be equivalent to two bush
els of corn, and better for the hogs
than corn fed alone. Experiments have
shown that the dried leaves and stalks
have about as much nutritive value as
good meadow hay.
As food for man Professor Cocker.
ell finds that the Jerusalem artichoke
can be used as boiled vegetable, as a