OCTOBKR, 1921 



CrLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



671 



dirt scraped up from an old chip pile. And 

 this recalls that I have not told you about 

 my two blueberry plants or little trees. Each 

 one bore a fine crop of fruit; but as they 

 were of different varieties one was a little 

 ahead of the other. Our Medina birds were 

 not at all slow in discovering the delicious 



: blueberries, and before I knew it one bush 

 was almost completely stripped. When the 

 birds got a taste of them they could not wait 

 till the berries ripened. But I "got busy" 



; just then, and put a wire-cloth screen over 



j the other bush, and thus I saved the berries. 



! This wire-cloth screen is one we had made 



I to keep our seed corn so the rats and mice 

 could not get at it. Let us now get back to 



I that mound of cliip dirt. 



Mother planted her flower seeds, but only 



, one plant came up. This she took great 

 pains with, dug about and watered it, and it 

 grew tremendously. It went aw'ay up above 

 our heads and branched out, and in due 

 time it was covered with innumerable blos- 

 soms. Father had been joking her right 

 along about her "posy bed." He said her 

 one plant was nothing but a great weed; 

 but when it w^as covered with blossoms and 

 was humming uith bees, he owned up that it 

 was something worth while after all. But I 

 think he did not quite give up that it was 

 only a weed. 



' One day -when the whole family were ad- 

 miring it he called our attention to the way 



I the ground was heaving up, as if there were 

 big potatoes or something else under the soil. 

 Then he stooped down and pulled out a 

 large (irtichol-r. There was a big laugh all 



: around, but we five children made good use 

 of the big crop of artichokes from just one 

 hill. The rich, mellow chip dirt did the 

 business. Eotten w-ood or decayed sawdust, 

 we are told, produces an acid soil, and al 

 most all kinds of acid fruits do better witli 

 this acid soil; and it seems also to suit this 

 particular but, in some respects, well-known 

 vegetable, the artichoke.* 



In Gleanings for April 15, 1913, I gave a 

 description of a new tuber plant brought 

 out by John Lewis Childs called "helian- 

 ti." here is his description of it: 

 Big Money Growing Helianti. 

 Helianti, the new "Wonder Plant," the great 

 combination vegetable. As a money-maker it's a 

 wonder. Unlike ginseng, you don't have to wait 

 five years for a crop. A very showy flower and 

 a new summer and winter vegetable of phenomenal 

 merit. This new plant produces showy golden - 

 yellow flowers like cosmos blossoms, in endless 

 profusion, and immense quantities of fleshy tubers, 

 somewhat after the style of sweet potatoes, that 

 are splendid eating fall, winter and siiring. It 

 stands both heat and cold, and will thrive any- 



* Not far from where I sit is a ginseng shed; 

 and it has been running for a dozen years or 

 more. The proprietor told me that the only fer- 

 tilizer that can be used successfully with ginseng 

 is rotten sawdust — .iust that and nothing else. Of 

 course the plants must be shaded from the sun 

 ito imitate their native woods. So it seems there 

 'are quite a few fruits and vegetables that need 

 and sometimes "insist" on this acid soil produced 

 by decaying vegetable matter without any stable 

 manure or similar fertilizer. 



where in any soil or climate. What would you 

 think of hay, potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower, oys- 

 ter-plant, mushrooms, squash and beautiful ' flow- 

 ers, all on one plant? 



Of course 1 sent for some, and in due time 

 had some tubers, iuul also a great mass of 

 flowers covered with bees, that reminded me 

 of my mother's posy bed of years ago. 

 Cooked as directed, these were delicious 

 eating, without any question. In fact, tliey 

 made a pretty good substitute for oysters, 

 and tasted a little like the well-known sal- 

 sify or vegetable oyster. But in our clay 

 soil the yield was poor, and it was quite a 

 little trouble to dig them; and Mrs. Root 

 objected that tliey were a good deal of 

 trouble to prepare for cooking. A little 

 later a friend in California gave us some 

 that were quite' a little larger, and he 

 claimed that they would yield as many busli- 

 els per acre as potatoes; but we never suc- 

 ceeded in getting a yiela anything like it. 

 Furthermore, after my write-up in Gleanings 

 one of our office girls brought me about a 

 dozen of the real old-fashioned artichokes; 

 and after we had enjoyed the helianti tu- 

 bers for quite a spell, Mrs. Root tried cook- 

 ing the artichokes in the same way, and 

 pronounced them almost if not quite equal. 

 Let us now drop the artichoke we have 

 been talking about, for another artichoke 

 that bears a vegetable above the ground in- 

 stead of under it. Let me introduce it by 

 a clipping below from the Scientific Ameri- 

 can: 



Thistle Gardening in San Fraiicisco. 

 By G. A. Orb. 

 In the backyards of San Franci.sco and tlie 

 Half Moon Bay region we find a giant thistle be- 

 ing cultivated for its food value — a giant thistle 

 of Mediterranean origin with spines which are 

 both relentless and cruel, but a large purple 

 flower most gloriously scented which holds an 

 irresistible lure for the bees ; a giant thistle which 

 so loves its adopted home that it refuses to be 

 groAvn elsewhere in spite of the many attempts to 

 do so. 



This same thistle, with its wonderful, big buds 

 and great Corinthian leaves with their prickly 

 spines, is known to the consumer as the arti- 

 choke; and such a delicacy do we regard the bud 

 of this same flower that it sells for a higher price 

 than the famous Hood River apples, Fresno rai- 

 sins, Florida oranges, or Santa Clara apricots. 

 Indeed, in our cities not only do we find it dis- 

 played in the fancy grocery, but not unusual is it 

 to find the push-cart peddler devoting a part of 

 his limited space to the same delicacy, and both 

 the rich man and the poor man buy it — often pay- 

 ing as high as a quarter apiece. 



We might perhaps better speak of this unique 

 industry as floriculture rather than market gar- 

 dening; but by whatever name ^Te call it. Cali- 

 fornia reaps the nice annual return of better than 

 a million and a half from it. The artichoke season 

 begins early in the days of October and reaches 

 its crest about the first of April: nor accidental is 

 it that it should reach its height .iust at the time 

 when it will make the most definite appeal to the 

 city consumer. St. Louis. New Orleans, New York, 

 Chicago, as well as the cities along the Pacific 

 slope, all draw their supply from San Francisco. 

 From this region (and the land just a few miles 

 south) there wer«> shipped last year some .'^00 car- 

 load lots; S.'iO of these went to eastern cities, and 

 150 to cities along the Pacific slope, while, of 

 course. San Francisco itself is a big consumer. 



Twenty-five cents apiece does not seem such a 

 high price to pay for this delicacy when we stop 

 to think that it must go on the market in tho 



