THE CARDOON. 659 



request on the Continent than in England. In France the corollas, 

 both of the cardoon and artichoke, as well as those of several thistles, 

 are dried and used as a substitute for rennet in curdling milk. 



Cookery of the Cardoon. " When a cardoon is to be cooked, its 

 heart, and the solid, not piped, stalks of the leaves are to be cut into 

 pieces, about six inches long, and boiled like any other vegetable, 

 in pure water, not salt and water, till they are tender. They are then 

 to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings which will be found 

 to cover them ; and having thus been thoroughly cleaned, are to be 

 plunged in cold water, where they must remain till they are wanted for 

 the table ; they are then taken out and heated with white sauce, 

 marrow, or any other of the adjuncts recommended in cookery books. 

 The process just described is for the purpose of rendering them white, 

 and depriving them of a bitterness which is peculiar to them ; if 

 neglected, the cardoons will be black, not white, as well as dis- 

 agreeable." 



Varieties, Propagation, fyc. There are several varieties, but the best 

 are the cardoon of Tours, and the Spanish cardoon. The cardoon is 

 always propagated by seed, which must not be sown too early, unless 

 it is abundantly supplied with water in the dry season, otherwise it is 

 apt to run to flower. In the climate of London, the end of April, or 

 beginning of May, is found a proper time for a crop to come into use 

 in November ; but an earlier crop may be obtained by sowing in 

 March. It should always be sown where the plants are finally to 

 remain. Sow in patches of three or four seeds. Prepare shallow 

 trenches a foot wide,and four feet apart, centre from centre, manuring the 

 soil in the bottom of the trench. Sow the seed in patches in the centre 

 of the trench twenty inches or two feet apart, and as soon as the plants 

 come up, one only should be left in each patch. Two ounces of seed 

 will be sufficient for fifty patches. With the usual routine culture, 

 the leaves will be three feet or four feet long by the middle of October, 

 when they should be first slightly tied up with pieces of matting for a 

 few days, and afterwards closely wrapped round with haybands, so as 

 completely to exclude the light from the root to about two-thirds of 

 the length of the leaves. In three weeks the interior leaves will be 

 fit for use. On the approach of winter, they may be earthed up like 

 celery, as high as the haybands, to protect them from the frost ; or 

 they may be covered with litter and thatched hurdles, for that pur- 

 pose, or taken up with balls, and placed close together in an open 

 airy shed. 



In taking the plants for use, remove the haybands and the outer 

 leaves, and shorten those plants which are tender and blanched to the 

 length of eighteen inches or two feet, cutting off the root. One 

 or two plants will make a dish. Seed may be saved by protecting 

 some plants, the leaves of which have not been blanched, through the 

 winter, in the spot where they have grown ; they will flower in the 

 following July, and ripen seed in August, which will keep five or six 

 years. 



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