ARID AGRICULTURE. 227 



one-half or two feet apart in the rows, by cross- 

 cultivation. The cultivation is done when the 

 artichokes begin to grow in the spring, and are 

 four or five inches high. We have known crops 

 to be produced year after year where the rain- 

 fall was only ten inches and the season short and 

 cold, and this was done without any special care 

 or irrigation. 



Many are afraid to plant artichokes because 

 they consider them a bad weed. It is not diffi- 

 cult to destroy them as weeds. They are allowed 

 to grow a foot or two high before being plowed. 

 Then planting the land to wheat or other grain 

 and giving it cultivation with the harrow and 

 weeder will entirely rid the soil of artichokes in 

 one season. 



The culture of artichokes is the same as that 

 for potatoes, though the cultivation may be less 

 frequent and more shallow. They are planted 

 in rows three feet apart, and may be put in with 

 a potato planter or dropped by hand in furrows 

 and covered with a plow or harrow. They should 

 be planted from three to six inches deep and the 

 tuber may be either planted whole, which is the 

 method pursued if the planting is done in the 

 fall, or they may cut one or two eyes to the piece 

 when planted in the spring. They may be har- 

 vested like potatoes and stored and fed, but their 

 greatest use is in the pig pasture. 



