HISTORY VARIETIES CULTIVATED. 



75 



8 or 10 feet, with a coarse, hairy, erect stem, surmounted 

 (but very rarely in this country) by a small branching head 

 with yellow flowers. Owing to the absence of seeds, it can 

 only be propagated by its tubers, and these being, many 

 of them, of small dimensions, and capable of remaining in 

 the soil without injury during the most severe winters, are 

 generally quite sufficient to keep the ground well stocked 

 after the crop has been removed. The plant has the pro- 

 perty of being able to grow productively in the poorest class 

 of soils, and also under the shade of trees two conditions 

 of growth which are more or less fatal to most other plants. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



There are two varieties known in our gardens, the Common 

 Jerusalem artichoke (fig. 1), and the Yellow Jerusalem arti- 

 choke (fig. 2), the tubers of the latter being usually smaller 

 and more irregular in shape than the other, and also said 



