GROWING GLOBE ARTICHOKES 121 



artichokes from California during the winter season can be profit- 

 ably sold. The canning of artichokes is also being largely un- 

 dertaken. 



$ H, Xhe globe artichoke will thrive on any well-prepared 

 garden soil and does not refuse a pretty heavy adobe if well culti- 

 vated to retain moisture. The chief commercial crop is made on 

 the sandy loams of the ocean slopes, where fogs moisten the air 

 of the dry season and the ocean moderates the temperature in 

 winter, which is the cropping season. But on such soils water and 

 fertilizers must be freely used. The plant delights in manuring and 

 is benefited by it both in the tenderness of its buds and the multi- 

 plication of bearing stems. Either a complete commercial fertilizer 

 or barnyard manure may be quite freely used the latter even at 

 the rate of ten or twelve tons to the acre, applied early in the 

 rainy season. 



Propagation. The plant grows readily from seed which may 

 be planted either in boxes or the open ground in September, if irri- 

 gation is available; if not, sow as soon as the ground is deeply 

 moistened by rain. The seedlings may be transplanted, when six 

 or eight inches high, to permanent place whenever the ground is 

 suitable the same season. Transplanted seedlings usually bear 

 within a year. Care should be taken not to cover the crown deeply 

 in transplanting. 



But there is much variation in plants grown from seed and 

 those grown from parts of old plants of good type are almost ex- 

 clusively used in commercial practice. The plant grows readily 

 from dividing the stool or from suckers detached from the root 

 crown. The latter furnish an excellent means of multiplication and 

 should be secured by first uncovering the stool as soon as there is 

 a good growth of new shoots with well-developed leaves. Remove 

 the shoots carefully with a knife or sharp gouge so as to take a 

 small part of the parent root at the base of the shoot. Many plants 

 can thus be taken from a single root-crown and a few of the best 

 shoots left for growth. Shorten the leaves somewhat to reduce 

 evaporation until new roots are formed. These sprouts, which 

 should be taken off during the rainy season, can be planted at once 

 in permanent place if the ground is warm and moist and will bear 

 late in the same year, if their growth is promoted by frequent 

 watering. But plants do not reach maximum production of three 

 or four dozen buds to the stool until the third year. Although the 

 plants can be kept for nine or ten years in service, better product 

 can be had by renewing at the end of the fifth year, using the suck- 

 ers from the old plants for a new start. 



Distance. So free is the growth in this state, it is desirable 

 to give a good distance. In the garden four feet apart in rows 

 which are five or six feet apart is often practiced. But as the plant 

 is high and rather dense, it is better to place the rows in the back- 

 ground of the small garden and its use as an ornamental hedge or 



