ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS. 281 



the temperature were warmer than it is in those sit- 

 uations which are refreshed by the immediate presence 

 of the sea. 



This, therefore, is the point at which the skill of 

 the cultivator changes the season of the plant, not 

 by forcing it forward into productiveness, as is the 

 case with fruits that are forced, but by checking its 

 upward growth, and causing the nourishment which 

 would be thus expended to be directed to the en- 

 largement of the shoots previous to their expansion. 

 To produce this effect, as well as to blanch and pre- 

 vent them from becoming bitter, the plants are cover- 

 ed with pots, so pressed down into the soil as to pre- 

 clude the admission of light and the circulation of air, 

 as both are detrimental to the colour and flavour of 

 the produce. 



Pursuing this method shoots are produced fit for 

 use generally in April or May, and a succession may 

 be obtained during six weeks. No plant is more 

 easily and cheaply forced than sea-kale, and, there- 

 fore, a supply of this vegetable may be usually obtain- 

 ed for the tables of the affluent during mid-winter, 

 and throughout those months when fresh vegetables 

 are most difficult to be procured.* 



The ARTICHOKE Cynara scolymus is a native 

 of some of the warmer parts of the temperate zone, 

 and is supposed to be indigenous to the countries 

 which bound the Mediterranean, as well as to the 

 islands which are situated in that sea. 



Like sea-kale, it is naturally a maritime plant, or 

 at least one which thrives best on soils where there is 

 a mixture of saline or alkaline matter. It does not, 

 however, flourish on the same sandy shore with the 

 former plant, its most genial soil being that in which 

 there is a mixture of peat, or other decayed marshy 

 vegetable matter. Nowhere does the artichoke arrive 



* Loudon's Encyc. of Gard. p. 731. Abercrombie. 

 VOL. xv. 24* 



