IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Spanish onion with bulbs weighing three or four 

 pounds. 



He states that the various members of this 

 family are easy to work with by way of selection, 

 and that the only difficulty in hybridizing them is 

 due to their small flowers, and may readily be 

 overcome by the use of reasonable care. Whether 

 by hybridizing or by mere selection, he says, the 

 onion is susceptible of great improvement along 

 various lines, size, flavor, decrease of odor, and 

 the ease with which it may be cultivated especially 

 commends it to the amateur. 



In recent years Mr. Burbank has made ex- 

 tensive experiments in developing the artichoke, a 

 vegetable that is exceedingly popular in Europe, 

 but which until recently has been somewhat neg- 

 lected in America. The artichoke is a composite 

 flower; that is to say, it belongs to the family of 

 which the sunflower furnishes the type, and which 

 is characterized by growing a large number of 

 flowers in a single head, surrounded by a row of 

 petal-like rays. In cross-fertilizing flowers of this 

 type, Mr. Burbank is accustomed to wash away the 

 pollen with a stream of water from a garden hose 

 before applying the head of another flower and 

 rubbing the two flower heads gently together to 

 effect pollenization. 



The part of the artichoke that is eaten is the 

 flower head itself, the protecting bracts of which 

 have developed a pulpy portion at their base. The 

 receptacle on which the flowers grow, known as 

 the heart of the artichoke, is also edible. But the 



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