98 



COMPOSITE. 



and view become completely obstructed by them, and 

 their prickly stems form a barrier of a most impene- 

 trable nature. The same traveller remarks that, 

 though it would be an unusual misfortune in military 

 history, yet it is really possible that an invading army, 

 unacquainted with that country) might be imprisoned 

 by these plants before it had time lo escape from them. 



There are several varieties of cardoon which are 

 cultivated as culinary vegetables. The seeds are sown 

 in a deep light soil about the middle of April, and by 

 the end of October the plants have attained their full 

 size, and are ready for blanching. This operation is 

 performed by binding the leaves close together with 

 a wreath of hay or straw, and covering them with 

 earth for a month or six weeks. The stems and 

 m,id-ribs of the leaves are stewed, or eaten as a salad. 

 They are also boiled in soups. The florets of the 

 cardoon are used in Buenos Ayres and in France 

 instead of rennet, for coagulating milk. 



Cynara scolymus, the common artichoke, has been 

 considered by some as merely a variety of the car- 

 doon, depending on the cultivation. This opinion 

 requires confirmation, and as yet we have not sufficient 

 data to enable us to come to a satisfactory conclusion. 

 The artichoke differs from the cardoon in its broad 

 spineless leaves, its humble growth, and its large 

 fleshy heads. The plant comes originally from the 

 south of Europe, and was cultivated in England so 

 early as the year 1580. It is capable of sustaining 

 great and long-continued drought. In the hot season of 

 1825, it was almost the only vegetable to be got in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris for three or four weeks in the 

 months of July and August. Once in the seventeenth 

 century, and again about 1739, most of the artichokes 

 in England were destroyed by frost, and recourse was 

 had to France for a new supply. There are several 

 varieties of artichoke in cultivation, the chief of which 

 are the green or French. The globe and dwarf globe 

 artichokes are propagated by suckers, in the months 

 of March and April- They require a light well-ma- 

 nured soil, and are planted in rows four feet distant, 

 and two feet apart in the rows. They produce a few 

 heads the h'rst season, and a full crop the next ; and, 

 if well manured, they will last for five or six years. 

 In winter, the plants are covered with dung about a 

 foot thick, which is removed in March and April 

 when the ground is dressed. The artichoke, in its 

 wild state, is more downy and spinous than when cul- 

 tivated in the kitchen garden ; the heads also are 

 much smaller. 



The heads of the artichoke are gathered in the un- 

 ripe state before the flower expands, and are boiled in 

 salt and water until all the parts are soft which are 

 capable of becoming so. The scales are then taken 

 off one by one, and their lower part being dipped in 

 a mixture of butter and pepper, all the fleshy part is 

 sucked off. Very little is obtained in the way of solid 

 food, the butter forming the chief part of the dish. 

 After the scales are taken off, there remains the re- 

 ceptacle or bottom, with a mass of unexpanded florets 

 and bristles, called the choke. The latter being re- 

 moved, there remains the proper receptacle or cul 

 which is the most valuable part of the artichoke. 

 Many people are very fond of artichokes. In France 

 and Italy they are much more used than in this coun- 

 try, and they are often eaten in those countries in a 

 raw state. 



Artichokes contain little nourishment, but they are 

 easily digested, and hence are sometimes useful for 



convalescents. They possess diuretic and diaphoretic 

 properties. The root is bitter, and is considered by 

 the Arabians as laxative, while the gum which it fur- 

 nishes is classed by them among the emetics. The 

 receptacles of the artichoke may be preserved during 

 the winter, by being blanched in hot water, and care- 

 fully dried. 



The genera Cnicns and Carduus include most of the 

 thistle tribe. These two genera are distinguished from 

 each other by the pappus being feathery in the one, 

 and only rough in the other. Thistles are propagated 

 with amazing rapidity, on account of the down at- 

 tached to their seeds, by means of which they are 

 easily carried by the winds in all directions. They 

 are a very troublesome set of plants, and prove a great 

 annoyance to the farmer. Ever since the time that 

 the Almighty pronounced this sentence on the earth, 

 " Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth tothee," 

 these weeds have continued to infest the ground, and 

 man has been forced to eat bread in the sweat of his 

 brow. The Cnicus amensis, or creeping thistle, is one 

 of the most difficult to extirpate, in consequence of 

 the numerous deep roots which it puts forth. These 

 noxious weeds, however, although at first sight they 

 might appear to be of no use, have important pur- 

 poses in the economy of nature, affording by their 

 seeds and leaves nourishment to numerous tribes of 

 birds and insects with which the earth is peopled. 

 Some of the thistle tribe are also turned by man to 

 useful account : the footstalks of their leaves, and 

 their receptacles, being used by him as food. The 

 flowers of several of the species ate used in Europe 

 for curdling milk. 



The handsomest native species of thistle are, Car- 

 duus nutans, Cnicus eriophorum, and heterophyllus. The 

 first of these is said to smell powerfully of musk in 

 warm weather, more especially in the evening, and 

 hence it has been called musk thistle. Cnicus erio- 

 phorum, woolly-headed thistle, is so named on account 

 of the large quantity of woolly matter which is inter- 

 woven with the scales of the involucre. Carduus Man- 

 anus has been denominated milk thistle, on account of 

 the milky veins on its leaves. The root and leaves 

 are very bitter, and the expressed juice was formerly 

 used in dropsy, jaundice, chronic rheumatism, and 

 intermittent fever. Qrwpordum acant/iium, common 

 cotton thistle, although not belonging to the true 

 thistle tribe, and but rarely found in Scotland, is still 

 commonly cultivated as the true Scotch thistle. Its 

 seeds are much eaten by birds, and are not so liable 

 to be blown about as those of the other thistles al- 

 ready noticed. 



Carthamus tinctonus, safflower, is a native of Egypt 

 and eastern countries, and is cultivated in many parts 

 of Europe and the Levant, on account of its flowers, 

 which are dried and exported in large quantities, in 

 order to furnish a deep yellow dye, like saffron. The 

 flowers furnish two colouring principles very important 

 in dyeing ; one soluble in alkalis, presenting various 

 shades of red, and another soluble in water, of a yel- 

 low colour. The first is employed particularly by the 

 Chinese, to give different red tints to silk, and bears 

 the name of Carthamitc. When mixed with finely 

 powdered talc, it is used by the Parisian ladies as a 

 cosmetic rouge, under the name of vegetable rouge, 

 or lake of Carthamus. The plant was introduced into 

 England in the year 1551, and in 1683, twenty-five 

 acres of ground in Gloucestershire were sown with its 

 seeds. In Spain it is grown in gardens for the pur- 



