IV.] THE AMERICAN GARDENER. 99 



rest of the leaf put aside, as we do the stem of as- 

 paragus. The bottom, when all the leaves are thus 

 disposed of, is eaten with knife and fork. The 

 French, who make salads of almost every garden 

 vegetable, and of not a few of the plants of the 

 field, eat the artichoke in salad. They gather the 

 heads, when not much bigger round than a dollar, 

 and eat the lower ends of the leaves above men- 

 tioned raw, dipping them first in oil, vinegar, salt 

 and pepper ; and, in this way, they are very good. 

 Artichokes are propagated from seed, or from off- 

 sets. If by the former, sow the seed in rows a 

 foot apart, as soon as the frost is out of the ground. 

 Thin the plants to a foot apart in the row ; and, in 

 the fall of the year, put out the plants in clumps of 

 four, in rows, three feet apart, and the rows six 

 feet asunder. They will produce their fruit the 

 next year. When winter approaches, earth the 

 roots well up ; and, before the frost sets in, cover 

 all well over with litter from the yard or stable. 

 Open at the breaking up of the frost ; dig all the 

 ground well between the rows ; level the earth 

 down from the plants. You will find many young 

 ones, or offsets, growing out from the sides. Pull 

 these off, and, if you want a new plantation, put 

 them out, as you did the original plants. They 

 will bear, though later than the old ones, that 

 same year. As to sorts of this plant, there are 

 two, but they contain no difference of any conse- 

 quence : one has its head, or fruit pod, round, and 

 the other, rather conical. As to the quantity for a 

 family, one row across one of the plats will be suf- 

 ficient. For Jerusalem Artichoke, see Jerusalem. 

 193. ASPARAGUS. Were I writing to Nova 

 Scotians, I ought not to omit to give instructions as 

 to which end of the Asparagus the eater ought to 



