CAPSICUMS. 



CARDOON. 



seed should be sown early in March, 

 in well-drained pots filled with light 

 sandy soil, and placed in a cucumber- 

 frame, or wherever a temperature of 

 about 65 is maintained. Cover the seed 

 to the depth of about half an inch, and 

 keep the surface constantly moist until 

 the plants appear. When the plants are 

 strong enough to handle, pot them off, 

 placing two or three plants in a 5-inch 

 pot, and replacing them in the warmth. 

 Keep them rather close until they become 

 established, then shift into 7-inch pots; 

 and when they are fairly established in 

 these, remove them, if intended for the 

 open ground, to a cold franre, and gradu- 

 ally prepare them for planting out by 



CAPSICUM (7>ar. GOLDEN DAWN). 



a freer exposure to the air. Those in- 

 tended to grow in pots under glass should 

 be shifted into lo-inch pots as soon as 

 they require more space for their roots, 

 and be stopped, so as to cause them to 

 form bushy plants ; they must be liberally 

 watered and syringed over head during 

 very dry weather. Those intended for 

 the open garden may be planted in pro- 

 perly prepare! situations towards the end 

 of May, protecting them by hand-glasses 

 or any more convenient contrivance til 

 they are fairly established. They must 

 be liberally watered during hot, dry 

 weather. In favoured localities most of 

 the varieties do better planted out than 



when grown in pots under glass ; but 

 they will not succeed in the open air 

 except in warm, dry situations. 



Cardoon. 



A perennial in its native country, the 

 shores of the Mediterranean, it becomes 

 an annual in this country, the first sowing 

 taking place in the beginning of March, on 

 a very slight hotbed ; in April, on the 

 natural ground ; and again in June, for 

 next spring's crop. The trenches are 

 dug as for celery, and moderately 

 manured with well - decomposed dung. 

 In sowing, two or three seeds are sown 

 together in a clump, 12 inches apart. 



Should each vegetate, remove all but 

 one, when six inches high. When the 

 plant is 1 8 inches high, put a stake to 

 it, and tie the leaves lightly to it, earthing- 

 up the stem at the same time, like celery. 

 Throughout the summer water copiously 

 and frequently with soft water and a little 

 guano, to prevent flowering. In Septem- 

 ber, the early crop will be fit for use ; 

 remove the earth carefully, take the 

 plant up by the roots, which cut off; 

 the points of the leaves also cut oft' to 

 where they are solid and blanched. 

 These are carefully washed, the parts 



