THE 



JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE CROP. 



IN this section of our "Farm Crops" we must include 

 another tuberous-rooted plant, which, although well known 

 in our gardens, is rarely or never seen as a distinct field 

 crop in this country, while in the poor sandy districts of 

 France and other parts of the Continent, it forms a very 

 valuable and remunerative cultivation. This is the JERU- 

 SALEM ARTICHOKE a plant belonging to an order (COMPO- 

 SITE) widely differing from those which we have already 

 referred to, and of which this, and another sparingly culti- 

 vated crop, the "Chicory," are the only members which we 

 admit into the list of our farm produce. The Jerusalem 

 Artichoke labours under the misfortune of having a name 

 which would lead one to expect an appearance and pro- 

 perties widely differing from what it really possesses. 

 Though belonging to the same natural order as the common 

 artichoke of the garden, it differs widely from it in every 

 respect. The one is grown for the heads, which are eaten; 

 in the other, the tubers are the only edible portions. 

 Neither has the epithet "Jerusalem" any meaning, it 

 being only a corruption of "girasole," the Italian name 

 given to the sunflower (a closely allied species), from its 

 supposed habit of turning round its flowering head, and 

 following the daily course of the sun from east to west. The 

 plant we have now to describe was introduced into this 

 country early in the seventeenth century, and is generally 

 VOL. II. " 38 



