HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



25 



HISTOEY OF OUR CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



No. XV.— THE CARDOON (Cynara cardimculus) . 



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5? HE Cardoon, or 

 Chardoon, be- 



longs to the 

 same class and 

 jj* order as the 

 Artichoke, 

 which it very 

 much resem- 

 bles, but is of a larger and 

 more regular growth. It is a 

 native of Candia and the South 

 of Europe, but we have no 

 notice of its cultivation in 

 our current authors. It was 

 introduced into England about 

 1683, and first cultivated by 

 Mr. James Sutherland. Par- 

 kinson, in his " Pardis," 

 states that he was assured by 

 John Tradescante that he saw 

 three acres of land about Brussels planted with this 

 vegetable, the leaves of which the owners whifced 

 like endive, and soli there in winter. Townsend, 

 in his Tour through Spain in 1786, mentions that in 

 some parts of that country they never use rennet 

 for cheese, but substitute the down from Cynara 

 cardimculus, from which they make a strong infu- 

 sion over-night, and next morning they mix half-a- 

 pint to fourteen gallons of milk warm from the cow. 

 In the present day the French peasantry carefully 

 dry in the shade the flowers of this plant, and of the 

 artichoke, to use for the same purpose. Cardoons are 

 cultivated for the table in many parts of the Continent, 

 but not much esteemed in England, as it is stated 

 they are rather troublesome to grow in this climate, 

 and depend so much on the skill of the cook to 

 render them palatable. 



John Baubin affirms that the Cardoon is a hybrid 

 plant, or mule from the seed of the common arti- 

 choke. 

 No. 134. 



This plant has the same name, with slight varia- 

 tions, in several languages of Europe : as Kardouen, 

 Kardon, Cardone, and Cardon. 



No. XVI.-THE JERUSALEM OR GROUND 

 ARTICHOKE {lleliantlms tuherosus). 



This plant is a production of the warmer parts of 

 the Western hemisphere, and consequently unknown 

 to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sir James 

 Smith says, in his "Introduction to Botany," that the 

 name of this vegetable is a corruption of the Italian, 

 name Girasole Articiocco (Sunflower Artichoke), and 

 was first brought from Peru to Italy, and thence 

 propagated throughout Europe. This tuber, which 

 is more agreeable than profitable, was first cultivated 

 in England during the reign of James I., as we are 

 informed that in the year 1617 Mr. John Goodyer 

 received two small tubers, not bigger than a hen's 

 e%g, from Mr. Pranqueville, of London; one he 

 planted, and the other he gave to a friend. His own 

 brought him a peck of tubers, wherewith he stored 

 Hampshire ; but he remarks that they are meat more 

 fit for swine than men. This note bore the date of 

 October 17, 1621. Erom this it appears that this 

 vegetable was introduced into England by the 

 Erench, who met with them in Canada, as Parkinson, 

 writing in 1629, mentions them under the head of 

 Battatus de Canada, the Erench Battatus, or 

 Jerusalem Artichokes. Coles also, whose work 

 was printed only forty years after they were known 

 in this country, called them the Potatoes of Canada ; 

 but we are informed in Martyn's edition of Miller, 

 that "they were so called because the French 

 brought them first out of Canada into these parts ; 

 not that Canada is their original country, for they 

 are unquestionably the produce of a hot climate, 

 being natives of Brazil." 



In Parkinson's time they used to be baked in pies 

 with marrow, dates, ginger, raisins, larks, &c, but 



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