Vegetable Growing for Market 73 



spots, however, it rarely flowers in the British Islands. This is rather in 

 its favour from a market grower's point of view, as flowering would tend 

 probably to a considerable decrease in the size and quantity of the under- 

 ground potato-like tubers. Owing to its great vigour, the Jerusalem 

 Artichoke is an excellent plant for poor and badly drained ground, as the 

 evaporation of moisture from the leaves is great during the period of 

 growth. (See Vol. I, p. 120.) 



The Jerusalem or Potato Artichoke is an easily cultivated vegetable for 

 which the demand is very fluctuating. It is generally planted in the 

 bottom of balks, like Potatoes. Soot, wood ashes, and potash are good 

 manures. The plants require earthing in the summer, as potatoes do, but 

 watch must be kept so that all horse hoeings and the earthing are finished 

 before the tops grow too high, or the whipple tree will break them off ; and 

 where this occurs the plant will spend its energy in producing a bunch 

 of stems instead of tubers. 



The tops, when green, are useful forage for horses, cattle, or sheep. 

 Lifting may commence in October and continue all the winter. The tubers 

 are quite hardy no frost will affect them so that they can be left in the 

 ground. 



There are two sorts in cultivation the "red" and the "white". The 

 latter is the stronger grower and produces the heaviest crops, though 

 customers will be found sometimes to ask for the red. The Artichoke, 

 by its strong growth, forms a good crop to plant on land that has got foul, 

 but as every little piece of tuber left in the land will grow in the following 

 spring, it needs to be followed itself by a strong crop, and one that will 

 admit of the horse hoe being used freely. 



The Artichoke has of recent years developed a fungoid disease which 

 attacks the stalk when nearly full-grown and kills the plant. Little is 

 known of this disease yet, and no remedy for it has been found. 



Artichokes cost about 3d. per bushel to dig; the crop of marketable 

 tubers is 4 to 5 tons to the acre: the price varies from 2s. 6d. to Is. 6d. per 

 bushel; the demand is very limited. 



The small and broken tubers that cannot be marketed, if cooked, make 

 good food for pigs. [w. G. L.] 



The Globe Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus). Although belonging to the 

 same family as the Jerusalem Artichoke, this plant is quite distinct in 

 appearance, and resembles a large and coarse-growing grey-green thistle. 

 It is gradually winning its way amongst market gardeners in England, and 

 here and there one may see 1 or 2 ac. of it. It is cultivated for the large 

 globular flower heads, the fleshy bracts of which are eaten. It is essential 

 to cut the flower heads before the blossoms appear, otherwise the bracts 

 will be useless as a comestible. From 13,000 to 20,000 heads, each weigh- 

 ing about 8 oz., can be obtained from 1 ac. of ground. 



The Globe Artichoke, for which the demand at present is very limited 

 and local, is grown from plants "suckered" off the parent stools in the 

 early spring, and planted with dibbers in rows 4 ft. apart and 2 ft. 6 in. 



