AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 217 



of the total loss of the latter esculent, may be so again. In France 

 and Germany it is extensively grown as food for stock ; we re 

 member seeing, a few years since, large fields of it near Mnssilon 

 in Ohio, and it has been successfully tried in New York, Ala 

 bama, &c. In the United States, however, it is not usually cul 

 tivated, except in gardens. Both the tubers and stalks are val 

 uable. The first are occasionally eaten, either boiled or roasted, 

 by men, but are not in the present day much esteemed as a veg 

 etable, being apt to produce flatulency. The tubers grow in 

 clusters attached to the true root, somewhat in the manner of 

 potatoes, and the stems are from 5 to 10 feet in height, with a 

 considerable quantity of large leaves. In Michigan it flowers, 

 but does not bear seed. The crop is large, giving from 10 tons, 

 to 1,200 bushels of tubers, and 1 1 cwts. of dried stems per acre. 

 ( Boussingault, and N. Y. Cultivator.) The tubers, when 

 once planted, are very apt to spread, and are difficult to eradi 

 cate ; but in Europe this inconvenience appears to be obviated by 

 turning swine into the field. &quot; Taking into account the hardy 

 qualities of this plant, its productiveness, and easy culture, it may 

 be doubted whether it merits the neglect into which it has 

 fallen. Granting its inferiority as an article of food for cattle 

 to turnips, &c, it must be of some importance, especially since 

 the potato has failed, to have a plant that can be so easily raised, 

 and on soils so low in the scale of fertility.&quot; (Low.) 



471. Ultimate ANALYSIS of the Tuber (A) and dried Stem 

 (B) of the Jerusalem Artichoke. ( Boussingault.) 



A tuber fresh from the ground weighed 1 oz. 15 6-10 dwts : after dry 

 ing in the stove 7-10thsd\vls : after complete desiccation, one part was 

 reduced to 0.208. 



A B 



Carbon, - - 4302 43.62 45.66 



Hydrogen, - - 5.91 580 543 



Oiygen, - - 43.56 4307 4572 



NHrran, - - 1.57 1.57 0.43 



Ash - - 5.94 5.94 2.76 



