43G WASHINGTON COUNTY, IOWA. 



disastrous as the cholera, and both had to be charged to the 

 cost of production. 



ARTICHOKES. 



One of my neighbors had raised Red Brazilian artichokes 

 lor several years. I had watched him closely, and agreed with 

 him that they were a success, and that I had lost time by not 

 raising them sooner for feed instead of feeding so much corn. 

 So I planted seven acres to begin with. I liked them because 

 my hogs did, and next year I increased my fields to twenty 

 acres, which gives me all I can use. Last year I planted a kind 

 that is new here, called the White French artichoke. I think 

 them an improvement over the Red Brazilian, as they grow 

 deepest and are sweeter. So far from the artichoke being a 

 nuisance, as some declare it is, I find them easy to eradicate by 

 plowing under about July first. At that time there are no 

 tubers in the ground to start from. This plowing effectually 

 kills them. The heaviest corn I have seen this year grew 

 where a ccop of artichokes grew last year. I do not ring or 

 cut my hogs' noses, but turn them on the artichokes about the 

 middle of September or first of October. I give the fattening 

 hogs about half the corn they will eat while on them. The 

 stock hogs I feed corn in the evening. They will dig the 

 artichokes eagerly, even when the ground is frozen an inch 

 or two on top. As soon as it thaws again in the Spring, they 

 will begin on the same spot again. I let them have the run of 

 the fields until June first. During the month of May the 

 ground becomes filled with long white sprouts, about the size 

 of pipe stems. They are crisp and brittle like celery, of which 

 the hogs are also very fond. June first I turn them on clover. 

 By that time they have had rooting enough, and will not trouble 

 the clover fields. 



HOW TO KEEP HOGS HEALTHY. 



Next year I shall plant part of a field to mammoth sweet 

 corn, the remainder in Yankee corn, called by some King Phillip. 

 I ehall turn the hogs on that field about the middle of August. 



