160 GARDEN PLANTS. PART IT. 



years without blossoming. I have, however, experienced the 

 greatest difficulty in keeping it alive even through a single Hot 

 and Eain season, and have come to the conclusion that the best 

 method of obtaining a supply of it for domestic purposes is to 

 treat it in the same manner as recommended for Sage, that is : 

 Sow the seed of it annually in October, and on the approach of 

 the following Hot season gather all the leaves from the young 

 plants, dry them w.ell, but not in the sun, and then keep them 

 in well-corked bottles for use when required. 



EPIGYNOUS EXOGENS. 



ASTEEACE^E. 

 Helianthus tuberosus. 



JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 



This delicious vegetable is cultivated successfully in most parts 

 of India. The tuberous roots are the parts used for the table, 

 and are in season in November. The ordinary soil of the garden 

 generally suits it without the addition of much manure. The 

 tubers are put into the ground in May, in rows about a foot and 

 a half apart, and with the same distance between each plant, 

 and three inches deep. The plants grow to three or four feet 

 high, and produce their Sunflower-like blossoms in abundance ; 

 these possibly it would be of considerable advantage to remove 

 before opening. 



When the tubers are taken up they should be stored away 

 in large flower-pots, well covered in with earth, or they will be 

 liable to shrink and shrivel from exposure to the air. 



Cynara Scolymus. 



ARTICHOKE. 



This vegetable is, I believe, better known and more generally 

 cultivated in India than it is in England. Probably it is from 

 the very large space the plants take up that they are so seldom 

 seen in ordinary English gardens. 



Any time from the end of July to the beginning of September 

 is suitable for sowing the seed, which usually germinates in about 



