(18 



C Y N 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



C Y N 



sometimes destroyed, (though it rarely happensin dry ground) 

 the earthing of Artichokes should be deferred till the latter 

 end of November, or the beginning of December, provided 

 the season continue mild ; and towards Christinas, when there 

 appears any danger of severe frosts, lay a quantity of long 

 dung, pease-haulm , tanner's bark, or any other light covering, 

 over the ridges of earth, which will keep out the frost, and, 

 being at a distance from the roots, will not injure them : but 

 this should be carefully removed in the beginning of February, 

 or at least as soon as the weather is mild, otherwise the plants 

 will be injured by itslyingtoo long upon them It will also 

 be a good method, whenever any roots of Artichokes are dug 

 up in autumn, either to bury them deep in the ground in a 

 pit till spring, or lay them in a heap, so as that they may be 

 easily covered in hard frosts ; and these may be a supply, if 

 those in the ground be destroyed. When you have thus 

 earthed them up, you have nothing more to do till February 

 or March, by which time they will have grown through the 

 ridge of earth ; and when the weather is favourable, must 

 be dressed as before directed. Spring Dressing. At the 

 end of February, in March, or at the beginning of April, 

 according to the earliness of the season, or forwardness of 

 the old Artichoke roots, will be the proper time for dressing 

 them, which must be thus performed : with the spade remove 

 all the earth from about the stock, down below the part 

 whence the young shoots are produced, clearing the earth by 

 hand from between the shoots, so as to be able to judge of 

 the goodness of each, with their proper position upon the 

 stock ; then make choice of two of the clearest, strongest, and 

 most promising plants, that are produced from the under parts 

 of the stock, which are much preferable to the strong thick 

 plants, which generally grow upon the crown of the roots ; 

 for having these hard woodystems, neverproduce good fruit, 

 but are generally what the market people call rogues, which 

 have very little bottom, and the scales of their heads are 

 irregularly placed. In slipping off the plants, be careful not 

 to injure those which areto remain for a crop, but with your 

 thumb force off all the other plants and buds also, close to 

 the head of the stock whence they are produced, takingcare 

 not to overlook any of the buds, which would soon pro- 

 duce plants to the great detriment of those which are left ; 

 round which two you must draw the earth with a spade, and 

 close it fast to each of them by hand, separating them as far 

 as possible without breaking them, observing also to crop off 

 the tops of the leaves that hang down with your hands. The 

 ground being levelled between the stocks, you may sow 

 thereon a small crop of Spinach, which will be taken offbefore 

 the Artichokes can cover the ground. They must be kept 

 clear from weeds ; and towards the latter end of April, or the 

 beginning of May, when your old plants begin to show their 

 fruit, carefully inspect the stocks, and draw up all young 

 plants from them, which may have been produced after their 

 dressing, cutting off all suckers that are produced from the 

 stems of the Artichokes, leaving only the principal head ; 

 which will increase the size of the fruit. When they are fit 

 to gather, they ought not to be broken down close to the 

 surface of the ground, that yourstocks maymake strong fresh 

 shoots before the end of October : the season for earthing, 

 or, as the gardeners term it, landing them up, is the middle 

 or latter end of November, and is thus done : cut off all the 

 young shoots quite close to the surface of the ground, then 

 dig between every stock, raising all the earth between every 

 row of stocks into a ridge, as is done in the common method 

 of trenching ground, so as that the row of Artichokes may be 

 exactly in the middle of each ridge ; which will be sufficient 

 to defend them from frost. 



1. Cynara Hnrrida; Madeira Artichoke. Leaves pinna- 

 titiil, tomentose underneath, spiny ; spines at the base of the 

 leaves, and pinnas connate at bottom. Native of the island 

 of Porto Santo, near Madeira. 



3. Cynara Cardunculus ; Cardoon Artichoke. Lcavn 

 spiny, all pinnatilid ; calicine scales ovate. Kauhin assert*. 

 that this is a hybrid plant, or mule, from the seed of the com- 

 mon Artichoke. The corrollets and pistils are of a deep blue 

 colour, but the stamina are gray. 1'aikinson says, that he 

 was assured by John Tradescante, that he saw three acres 

 of land about lirussels planted with this kind of Artichoke, 

 which the owner whited like Endive, and then sold them in 

 the winter, but that " we cannot yet find the true manner of 

 dressing them, that our countrey may take delight therein." 

 In some parts of Spain they substitute the down of this plant 

 for rennet, in making cheese: a strong infusion is made over 

 night, and the next morning, when the milk is warm from the 

 cow, they put nearly half a pint of the infusion to nearly four- 

 teen gallons of milk. This plant has the same name, with 

 slight variations, in all the languages of Europe, as kartlonen, 

 kardon, cardone, and cardo. Native of Candia. The Car- 

 don or Cardoon, is propagated in the kitchen-gardens to sup- 

 ply the markets, being annually raised from seeds, which 

 should be sown upon a bed of light earth in March ; and 

 when the plants come up they should be thinned where they 

 are too close, transplanting those which are drawn out into a 

 bed at about three or four inches' distance, where they should 

 stay until finally remov ed to where they are to remain : these 

 young plants must be kept clean from weeds, and should be 

 transplanted out in the beginning of June, on a moist rich 

 spot of ground, at about four feet asunder every way : the 

 ground should be well dug before they are planted, and the 

 plants should be well watered until they have taken new root ; 

 after which it must be very diligently weeded, to encourage 

 the growth of the plants, and as they advance in height, there 

 should be some earth drawn up about each plant: and when 

 they are fully grown, their leaves should be closely tied up 

 with a hay-band, and the earth round them drawn up in hills, 

 almost to the top, being careful to keep the earth from falling 

 between the leaves, which may occasion the rotting of the 

 plants : the earth should be smoothed over the surface, that 

 the wet may run off, and not fall into the centre of the plant*, 

 which would also rot them. In about eighteen weeks after 

 they have been thus earthed, they will be blanched enough 

 for use, so that if a succession of them be wanted for tin- 

 table, there should be but few plants earthed up at each time. 

 Towards, the middle or latter end of November, if the frost 

 should be severe, it will be proper to cover the tops of those 

 plants which remain with pease-haulm or straw, to prevent 

 the frost from penetrating to the tender leaves, which fre- 

 quently pinches them where they remain totally uncovered ; 

 whereas if the covering be only removed in fine weather, thr 

 plants may be thus preserved for use during most part of the 

 winter, if a few of the plants be placed out in a warm situ- 

 ation to stand for seed, they should not be blanched, but only 

 in a very hard frost some light litter or pease-haulm may 

 be laid round them to keep out frost, which should be re- 

 moved in the spring, and the ground gently dug between the 

 plants, which will not only destroy the weeds, but al*o 

 encourage the roots of the plants to shoot out on every side, 

 and thereby add fresh strength to their stems. They will 

 flower about the beginning of July, and if the season provr 

 dry, their seeds will ripen in September ; but in cold wet sea- 

 sons they will not come to maturity in England. The stidk 

 of the leaf, which is thick and crisp, and may be thought t" 

 be palatable, is the part eaten ; it is rendered white and tender. 



