640 



Journal of Agriculture , Victoria. [10 Oct., 1918. 



and that its food value as measured in calories is superior to that of 

 the potato. The composition of artichokes and of potatoes is as 

 follows : — 



Artichokes 

 Potatoes 



The artichoke gives large crops. An average yield from field cultiva- 

 tion is about 10 to 12 tons, but in gardens and allotments it should be 

 considerably higher. Estimates of yield obtained by the Royal Society 

 Food (War) Committee give figures so high as 20 tons per acre on garden 

 ground. 



Other advantages possessed by the Jerusalen artichoke are that it 

 is not subject to disease, and will grow in almost any soil and situation 

 provided that there is an abundance of light and air. It succeeds best 

 on a deep friable sandy loam. 



For planting, medium-sized tubers should be chosen, or larger tubers 

 may be cut into pieces, each with two or three eyes. The white tubered 

 varieties are generally preferred to the pink, as they are of a better 

 shape. 



Planting should be done during spring. The tubers may be planted 

 in shallow trenches or dibbled 4 to 5 inches deep in soil which has been 

 previously well worked. The usual distances at which to plant are 

 3 feet between the rows, and 1 to 1^ feet between the sets. The planting 

 should be closer in poor soils and wider in rich soils. Fourteen pounds 

 of tubers will plant a rod of ground. 



The only cultivation necessary is hoeing to keep down the weeds and 

 the drawing of a little earth to the stem. The surface of the soil should 

 be stirred during dry weather. 



The tubers do n6t suffer from frosts, and may be left in the ground 

 and lifted as required; or, to get over the difficulty of digging the 

 tubers in frosty weather, they may be lifted and stored in sand in a cold 

 shed or cellar, or they may be clamped like potatoes in the open. They 

 should not be exposed freely to the air, for if so exposed the tubers 

 become soft very quickly. 



The fork should be used in lifting, and care should be taken to remove 

 all the tubers, otherwise they will grow in the following year. 



For use as pig food, artichokes when fed to small pigs should be 

 cooked, but sows will take them raw. 



Under field cultivation, and after the crop has been lifted, pigs 

 turned into the field will clean the ground by picking up the small tubers 

 left in digging, and a further advantage of thus turning in pigs will be 

 the increased fertility of the ground. 



