ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



97 



There is big money in hogs. Then why not plant the Jerusalem Artichoke? The great fattener during the winter 



months. The hogs do their own harvesting. 



as the plants will dwindle down and die. Suckers should 

 be taken during the winter months and planted three 

 feet apart, with the rows six feet. 



Experience has demonstrated that the best quality 

 of artichokes is produced by cutting the plants down 

 during the month of July, thus stimulating the growth, 

 causing them to produce an abundance of flower buds 

 during the winter and spring months. San Francisco 

 county is the great artichoke center of California, 

 shipments annually aggregating five hundred carloads 

 from this point. 



THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE 



The Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus Tuberosus) is 

 radically different in its character of growth from the 

 preceding, and will thrive on any well drained soil. 

 The tubers should be cut to single eyes and planted 

 eighteen inches apart with rows four feet apart. The 

 method of cultivation and hilling is practically the same 

 as for potatoes. The tubers are not mature until the 

 tops are frozen, when they may be dug up and used for 

 hog feed, or the animals may be turned loose to feed 

 and root them out themselves. They produce enor- 

 mously on good soil with liberal cultivation and mod- 

 erate irrigation, fifteen to twenty tons to the acre. 

 This vegetable is highly prized by the French people, 

 and in New Orleans, where it is extensively grown, it is 

 prepared for use by stewing, for making soups and as a 

 salad. For the fanners of California it possesses so 

 much merit that no farm having a few hogs should be 

 without a patch of these tubers, which will supply feed 



during the winter months when all other foods are 

 scarce and high. 



THE RHUBARB 



With the introduction of the Crimson Winter rhubarb 

 from Australia and the improved varieties which have 

 been developed from it, it is possible to have rhubarb 

 on our markets during the entire year. The Crimson 

 Winter is at the height of its production in the mid- 

 winter months, and the climatic conditions of the south- 

 ern part of the state seem to be much better adapted 

 to its culture than the coast counties around San 

 Francisco bay, where the Myatt's Linnaeus, Victoria 

 and Niles Giant do so remarkably well. It supplies the 

 market with the most delicious and healthful vegetable 

 when all deciduous fruits, except the apple, are out of 

 the way. For stewing and for pies it makes a dessert 

 dish which is very much relished. The plants are gross 

 feeders. They adapt themselves almost in any soil, 

 although they simply luxuriate in the deep, loamy black 

 soil. To secure the best results in the production of 

 stalks, a liberal application of stable manure is very 

 beneficial, and this, after the plants are four years old, 

 should be supplemented with the application of nitrate 

 of soda not to exceed two hundred pounds to the acre, 

 or blood and bone at the rate of four hundred pounds 

 per acre. These fertilizers should be applied by plowing 

 out furrows on each side of the rows of the plants, 

 throwing it back, and then irrigating. If after the 

 fertilizer is applied it is followed by a good soaking rain, 

 the irrigating will not be necessary. 



