them ai-e two feet long:, consisting of small bulbs 

 connected by succulent roots. 



The I'oots are white, and extremely tender, 

 while the tubers are slightly tinged with red. 

 The roots make the best slips for planting, and, 

 if cut up, leaving an eye to each slip, they reiidily 

 vegetate. When it is intended to feed this crop 

 to hogs, they require no harvesting, for they 

 readily with.«taud our mild winters ; and if the 

 hogs are turned in on them they usually provide 

 for themselves. For calves, sheep and horses, 

 they must be gathered and washed, but, unlike 

 other roots, they require no cutting up. They 

 might be fed to sheep, by merely plowing uj) a 

 few daily, and letting the sheep eat thern imme- 

 diately from the ground. In consuming this 

 crop, the hogs gave the ground a thoi-oug)i plow- 

 ing, and by turning under the stalks and leaves, 

 the}- add much to the soil. Some have asserted 

 that it is an exhausting crop, but from tlie genus 

 of the plant we infer it is not. The leaves are 

 lai-ge and the stalks are crowned with beautiful 

 yellow flowers. 



The above was substantially the contents of 

 an article contributed by us to the Albany CuJ- 

 //yrt/o)-, for February, 184.5. In the spring of 

 1815, iu preparing the plat of ground spoken of, 

 for potatoes, more than si.x bushels of tuber.s 

 were gathered, (making the yield .sixteen bu.sh- 

 els), which had not been affected in the least by 

 the frost, and vegetated finely. The ground was 

 planted iu potatoes, but there .still remained in- 

 numerable small tubers of Artichokes wliicli had 

 not been gathered,, and these vegetating brought 

 up a fine stand before the potatoes came up. 

 They took possession of it, and instead of a crop 

 of potatoes, one of Artichokes was raLsed, which 

 produced the second year over twenty bushels 

 on the ground above mentioned. Our experi- 

 ence of the prolific nature of this plant does not 

 cease with the two instances above mentioned. 

 Several acres were planted in a peach orchard 

 at Pomaria, last year, and under all the disad- 

 vantages of dense shade, drouth, and exhausted 

 soil, they produced quite a fine crop ; and its 

 adaptation as food for swine has been fully 

 tested. A number of sows and pigs are now 

 running on this last-mentioned lot, and keep fat 

 on what they glean from the field, which has 

 been partially dug over, without a particle of 

 other food. It is a great promoter of milk in all 

 animals, and fully sustains the opinion above 

 expressed concerning it.s being good food for 

 cows and sheep. It would, perhaps, supply 

 better food for ewes and lambs than any other 

 root crop we could grow, as the tubers are ex- 

 tremely succulent and embody more farinaceous 

 matter than is usually allowed to it, by those 

 ])ersons who wish to discountenance its culture, 

 because the Artichoke happens to contain 7(J-100 

 parts of water. The great quantity of this con- 

 stituent renders it the very best article which 

 we can give to our stock, in conjunction with the 

 dry food v^hich we feed out in winter. This is 

 wisely ordained by the Creator, who with the 

 powers and mightiness of omniscience has thus 

 constituted vegetable substances, in order that 

 they may be fit and proper food for the bea.sts of 

 tlic fieldwithout the artificial aids of preparation, 

 which man is forced to apply to the articles of 

 his diet. Owing to the large yield of this root, 

 we are fully satisfied that one acre of it v-iU pir- 

 nish more farinaceous matter than an acre 

 planted in any other root crop. The Jerusalem 

 Artichoke contains one-thud more nutriment 

 than the beet, which is extensively cultivated 

 — (ll--iti) 



in France as an article of economical food. It 

 will compete and far exceed the yield and profit 

 of the carrot in our soil, being more nutritious, 

 and at the same time more productive ; it will 

 grow luxuriantly on soils too poor for the dif- 

 ferent families of the potato, the beet or the car- 

 rot, and we have tested its powers of withstand- 

 ing drouth and cold : for our crop grew well 

 amidst the desert heats of the last summer, and 

 the roots which remained in the ground during 

 the late severe winter, have not been injured iu 

 the least : while it is never attacked by insects 

 or disease, both so fatal to the interests of root 

 crops in the southern latitudes. We believe, 

 from a fair trial, that it is destined to take the 

 first rank among cultivated roots, and finally 

 work great changes in the economy of feeding 

 domestic animals. The shading of old woni-out 

 lands by a plant which lives from atmospheric 

 sources, should be sufficient inducement for ita 

 general cultivation. Yvard, the distinguished 

 agricultural Professor at Alport, recommended 

 its cultivation both bj- precept and example. 

 Arthur Young affirms the net profits of its culti- 

 vation to be much greater, beyond all doubt, 

 than that of any other ordinary agricultural pro- 

 duction ; and finally, it remains iu full produc- 

 tion on the same spot for ten years and upward. 

 Our experience induces us to prepare the 

 land and plant them as follows : Break up the 

 soil as deep as you can in the winter, either with 

 turning. Eagle, or subsoil plo'w-s ; as soon as the 

 frost is out of the soil, in February or March, 

 cross-plow it with the common twister or com 

 plo'w, so as to have the land perfectly friable ; 

 lay it off in rows two feet apart, and drop the 

 tubers, prepared for planting by being cut into 

 pieces, ten inches apart in this row ; cover them 

 with a plow. When the plants are ten inches 

 high plosv them over, following again when they 

 become twenty inches high and the crop is 

 made. Tliey grow^ well in any soil, and being 

 a hardy perennial, flourish for a score of years 

 on the .same soil. They can be eradicated by 

 hogs, but will always come, even after the hogs 

 have gleaned the field, in sufficient quantities to 

 make a crop the next year. After the first year, 

 instead oi j/tanihif^ them, they must be plowed 

 down to a stand by three or four workings 

 as soon as they come up in the spring. 



Cements. — A coiTcspondent in an English 

 paper says: 'A Subscriber' asks if India-rub- 

 ber can be succes.sfully used to render slate cis- 

 terns water-tight. I can recommend a cement 

 which he will find to answer his purpose. I 

 have known it used in the fonnation of an aque- 

 duct 4.50 feet long and 5 feet viide. which was 

 water-tight the whole length. It was lined 

 with flooring-tiles, set in the following cement : 

 Cut. grs. Uis. s. d. s. d. 



Wliiting, cost, at 4 per cwt. 4 

 18 Rosin, " 11 " 7 



38.^ Brimstone, " 21 « 3 10 

 9 Tar, " 4 6 " 5 



17'.- 



Cost 15 3 



Extract of Peach Blossoms. — E.ssence of 

 lemon 1 oz. ; jnrrc balsam of Peru and essence 

 of bitter almonds, of each 1 dr. ; bitter almonds 

 1^ lb. ; rectified spirit of wine 3 pints ; spirits of 

 orange flowers 1 pint ; spirit of jasmine 5 pint ; 

 macerate. Very odorous. 



[Cooley's Cycle, of Prac. Receipts. 



