TJie Jenisalcvi Artichoke. 1 1 5 



THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 



{Heiianthus tubcrosus.) 



This plant, interesting in many respects, especially considered economi- 

 cally and agriculturally, was cultivated extensively at the end of the last 

 and beginning of the present century, and has probably been in Europe 

 for three hundred years. Now it is completely neglected ; a few specimens 

 only are sometimes to be seen in botanical gardens : and yet, as an orna- 

 mental plant, its tall stalks (each plant producing two or three, five or six 

 feet in height), surmounted by numerous flowers, which remind one slightly 

 of the sunflower {HcUanthiis annutis), make it most desirable. As an ali- 

 mentar)' plant, the tubers are prepared in various ways ; and the pulp has the 

 taste of artichokes (hence its vulgar name, Jerusalem artichoke). Largely 

 cultivated, it yields abundant and healthy food for cattle and sheep. 



As an article of food, it is highly prized by some, and little valued or 

 wholly neglected by others. The opinion of the best agriculturists is, that 

 the tubers of this plant, well prepared, make a palatable and wholesome 

 dish. Cooked with a little salt, or even raw, cows and sheep eat them 

 readily in winter, if they are fed occasionally, or mixed with hay and 

 rovven. 



Although indigenous to Brazil, and probably also to Chili, the tubers of 

 this plant withstand the most severe frosts. They vary in size, are very 

 abundant, and are similar in form to the potato {Solatium tuberosum). Every 

 kind of soil is adapted to them. They flourish everywhere, and furnish abun- 

 dant crops, which should be gathered in November ; or the tubers may be 

 dug even in winter, if the ground is not frozen. Is it not singular that of late 

 years, when, all over Europe and elsewhere, the potato-rot has appeared, 

 has lasted so long, and caused almost a famine, while, through a spirit 

 of rivalry, a multitude of tubers have been mentioned erroneously as edi- 

 ble, and good substitutes for the potato, no one has called to mind the 

 tubers of Heiianthus tuberosus 7 



C. Bailly Merlieux, in the " Maison Rustique du XIX. Siecle," vol. i. p. 

 451, has devoted to these plants an exhaustive article, in which he quotes 



