2.56 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kik-licn 

 Garden. 



Potatoes 



Jerusalem 

 Artichoke. 



flower-buds ; an openrtion easily performed by children, 

 with a sickle, at a trifling expence. 



Mr John Shirreff (in the same volume, p. CO.) takes 

 a general and philosophical view of the subject, apply- 

 ing to the potato the doctrine by which Mr Knight had 

 accounted for the disappearance of the fine cider fruits 

 of the l?th century. The maximum of the duration of 

 the life of every individual, vegetable as well as ani- 

 mal, is predetermined by nature, under whatever cir- 

 cumstances the individual may be placed: the mini- 

 mum, on the other hand, is determined by these very 

 circumstances. Admitting, then, that a potato might 

 reproduce itself from tubers for a great number of years 

 in the shady woods of Peru, it seems destined sooner 

 to become abortive in the cultivated champaign of Bri- 

 tain ; insomuch, that not a single healthy plant of any 

 sort of potato that yields berries, and which was in cul- 

 ture twenty years ago, can now be produced. Mr 

 Shirreff concludes, therefore, that the potato is to be 

 considered as a short-lived plant, and that, though its 

 health or vigour may be prolonged, by rearing it in 

 elevated or in shady situations, or by cropping the 

 flowers, and thus preventing the plants from exhaust- 

 ing themselves, the only sure way to obtain vigorous 

 plants, and to ensure productive crops, is to have fre- 

 quent recourse to new varieties raised from the seed. 

 The same view, it may be remarked, had occurred to 

 Dr Hunter, who, in his " Georgical Essays," limits 

 the duration of a variety iu a state of perfection to 

 about fourteen years. A fact ascertained by Mr Knight 

 deserves to be particularly noticed : it is this ; that 

 by planting late in the season, perhaps in June or 

 even in July, an exhausted good variety may in a great 

 measure be restored ; that is, the tubers resulting from 

 the late planting, when again planted at the ordinary 

 season, produce the kind in its pristine vigour, and of 

 its former size. 



Jerusalem Artichoke. 



312. The Jerusalem Artichoke, or tuberous-rooted 

 sunflower, ( Helianlhtts tuberosus, L. ; Syngenesia Poly- 

 gamia j'rustranea ; Corymbiferae, Juss.) is a perennial 

 plant, originally from Brazil. It has the habit of the 

 common sunflower, but grows much taller, often rising 

 ten or twelve feet high. Though its roots endure our 

 hardest winters, the plant seldom flowers with us, and 

 it never ripens its seed. The roots are creeping, and 

 have many tubers clustered together, perhaps from thir- 

 ty to fifty at a plant. These are eaten boiled, mashed 

 with butter, or baked in pies, and have an excellent 

 relish. The plant was introduced into our gardens ear- 

 ly in the 17th century ; and before potatoes became 

 common, it was much more prized than at present. 

 The epithet Jerusalem is a mere corruption of the Ita- 

 lian word Girasole, or sunflower; the name artichoke 

 is bestowed from the resemblance in flavour which the 

 tubers have to the bottoms of artichokes. As the po- 

 tato is the pomme de terre, this is the poire de terre of 

 the French. 



The plant is readily propagated by means of the 

 tubers. They are cut in the manner of potato sets, and 

 planted, in any light soil and open situation, in the 

 end of March. They are placed in rows, three feet 

 asunder, and a foot or fifteen inches apart in the rows. 

 In September they are fit for use; and in the course of 

 m>Vei7tl\? r they are dug up and housed, being kept in 

 sand like carTCts. Sometimes they are left in the ground, 

 and dug only as wanted, bein<r best when newly raised. 



K 



f>a"!iT'- 

 ~ 



The only disadvantage i', that in this way they cannot 

 be had in severe frosts. It is not very easy to clear the 

 ground of them where they have once grown ; and on 

 this account, some gardeners devote a by-corner to 

 them, and allow them to remain from year to year, 

 taking up only what is wanted for the occasional use of 

 the family. But the tubers thus produced are not so 

 clean or well flavoured as those produced on newly 

 delved ground by yearly planting. 



Turnip, 



313. The Turnip (Brassica Rapa, L.) is a biennial Turnip. A 

 plant, growing naturally in some parts of England, and 

 figured in " English Botany,'' t. 2176. The root-leaves 



are large, of a deep green colour, very rough, jagged 

 and gashed. In the second season it sends up a flower- 

 stalk, four or five feet high, having leaves which em- 

 brace the stem, very different from the former; smooth, 

 glaucous, oblong, and pointed. The cultivated variety 

 with a swelling fleshy root has long been known. Of 

 this there are several well marked subvarieties, distin- 

 guished as garden or as field turnips. To the former 

 belong the Early Dutch, Early Stone, and the Yellow ; 

 to the latter, the Large White, the Globe, the Swedish, 

 the Red-topped, and the Tankard or oblong. 



314. For the supply of the table during the early 

 part of summer, some of the early Dutch turnip is 

 commonly sown. If the weather prove dry, regular 

 watering is proper. For a general crop, the large 

 green-topped white turnip is accounted excellent, as 

 being soft, juicy, and sweet. One of the kinds with 

 which the London market is often supplied is the stone 

 turnip, a hard sweet sort, seldom of a large size. The 

 yellow is now perhaps less cultivated than it formerly 

 was ; but the yellow Dutch may still be considered as 

 one of the best kinds for winter use, as no frost hurts 

 it, and it is of excellent flavour. It is a very distinct 

 variety, the flesh being yellow throughout; whereas, 

 in the other varieties, any difference of colour is only 

 in the rind. The red or purple-topped turnip was for- 

 merly much cultivated ; but the green-topped has now 

 in a great measure superseded it, though less hardy. 

 The general crop is often sown towards the end of 

 June, when refreshing showers may be expected. It 

 not uncommonly occupies the ground from which early 

 peas have just been removed. But as turnips are most 

 desirable for the table in a young state, a small sowing 

 is commonly made once a month from April to August. 

 If sown earlier than April, the plants are apt to run to 

 seed. To divide the seed more equally when sown 

 broadcast, a little fine earth is mixed with it in sowing. 

 It is frequently sown in drills, an inch deep, and some- 

 what more than a foot asunder. If rain do not occur, 

 frequent watering is of great advantage to the young 

 crops. A light sandy loam, not recently manured, is 

 best for turnip ; in a rich garden soil, the roots are apt 

 to become rank and woody. When the root-leaves are 

 about an inch broad, the plants are hoed ; and, if they 

 have been sown broadcast, thinned to six or eight inches 

 distance from each other. When young turnips are 

 daily drawn for the table, they may be allowed to stand 

 somewhat closer, the proper degree of thinning being 

 accomplished by pulling for use. If sown in drills, 

 they may stand at five inches from each other in the 

 lines. Turnips bear transplantation with difficulty ; 

 yet in moist and rainy weather, spots where the seed 

 has failed may be filled up. When showery wea- 

 ther has made the leaves spring too much, so as to 



