OF ESCULENTS. SECT. XV. 



much sun has shined on them, and lay them by in 

 a cool place till wanted, being then well picked and 

 clean. 



ALEXANDER is a culinary plant, formerly much 

 used, but has given way to celery'; like which it i$ 

 blanched (which do a foot high) for use in soups and 

 sallads ; the seecls are best sown in drills two feet 

 asunder, and thinned to six or eight inches distance, 

 though they may be* sown at broad cast and trans- 

 planted. Spring sown plants come in for autumn, 

 and autumn ones for the use of spring. 



ARTICHOKE, there are two kinds of, the globe and 

 the conical. The latter is the hardiest, but the former 

 is generally preferred, both for size and flavour. Ar- 

 tichokes are propagated from rooted slips, or offsets 

 in April, taken from the mother plant, by drawing 

 the mould aside. As they require a rich soil, an4 

 are stationary plants, dig a good quantity of dung in, 

 completely below the roots for them to strike into, 

 breaking the soil well with it. 



The head of the artichoke is valuable according to, 

 its size and substance, and therefore to a good soil, 

 add good room: for though they may be planted 

 nearer, yet they would do much better in rows six 

 feet asunder, and three feet apart in the rows. Be- 

 tween these rows may be propagated several sorts of 

 spring or early summer crops. They will reward the. 

 trouble of being regularly watered in dry weather j 

 suffer them to bear only one principal head. Fresh, 

 plantations should be made every third or fourth 

 year, to have them in perfection. Every year that 

 they stano^ after planting they should be dug deeply- 

 round, and some well consumed manure applied. 

 Cut the heads when the leaves begin to expand, and 

 before the center opens for flowering ; and let them. 

 4 



