The Culture of Vegetables 



to the idle man, who will be content with half a crop of poor quality, 

 while the land may be capable of producing a crop at once the heaviest 

 and the best. 



GLOBE ARTICHOKE 



Cynara Scolymus 



GLOBE ARTICHOKES may be treated as annuals, biennials, or peren- 

 nials, at the discretion of the cultivator. The usual time of sowing 

 is the month of March, and the plants come very quickly after the 

 first kindly shower in April. In a favourable season the yearling 

 plants will flower freely in the autumn, and the few that do not 

 flower will give an early supply in the following year. The simplest 

 routine of cultivation consists in sowing down a plantation annually, 

 and allowing each to stand to the close of the second season : thus 

 keeping two plots going from seeds only, and for every seed-bed 

 making the most liberal preparation. A deep, moist, rich soil is 

 requisite for the production of large fleshy heads, and the plant may be 

 greatly aided by wood ashes and seaweed, for it is partial to saline 

 manures, its home being the sandy seashores of Northern Africa. 



To form a permanent plantation, prepare the soil by deep digging 

 and liberal manuring, and sow seeds in March, or plant suckers in 

 April. The distance we have found suitable to insure strong plants 

 is four feet each way, but the market growers usually put out suckers 

 in rows four and a half feet asunder, and two feet apart in the rows. 

 In the case of seeds it will be advisable, either to mark the rows by 

 sowing Rape or Turnip thinly, and at once sow or plant between with 

 Lettuce, Dwarf Peas, or Brassicas for planting out ; or to wait until 

 the Artichokes appear, and then sow Dwarf Kidney Beans as a stolen 

 crop. But if suckers are planted and a stolen crop is desired, it must 

 be a quick one, such as Brassicas for planting out, or Round Spinach, 

 or saladings. 



The suckers should be planted when about nine inches high. 

 Put them in rather deep, tread in firmly, and lay on any rough mulch 

 that may be handy. Should the weather be dry they will require 

 watering, and during hot weather water and liquid manure should 

 be given freely to insure a good supply of large heads. Seedlings 

 that are started well in a suitable bed take better care of themselves 

 than do plants from suckers, especially in a dry season, Vigorous 

 seedlings send down their roots to a great depth, 



4 



