HORTICULTURE. 



269 



- j.t 



heat. The method of forcing sea-cale on the open 

 ground was described by Mr Maher, in 1805, in the 

 paper above alluded to ; but he was not acquainted 

 with blanching-poti having moveable tops. It is also 

 described by Nicol, in his Kalendar," 1810, with the 

 improved blanching-pots. It i curious, therefore, that 

 Abercrombic, in his " Practical Gardener," 1813, should 

 take no notice of it, while he recommends planting 

 tea-cale in hot-beds under frames and glasses. 



363. Mr Barton, gardener at Bothwell Castle in Scot- 

 land, cover* the sea- rale beds to the depth of a foot and 

 a half, with leaves, as they fall from the trees, and are 

 raked from the shrubberies and walks in the end of 

 autumn, adding over all a very slight layer of long 

 dung, sufficient only to keep the leaves from being 

 blown about The shoots rise sweet and tender among 

 the leaves, early in the tpring, being in some measure 

 forced, and very perfect etiolation is at the same time 



ArtichoLe. 



Kitchen 



In a hot-bed frame, or in flued pits, sea-cale is forced 

 nearly in the same manner as asparagus. The plants 

 should be strong and healthy, and at least three years 

 old : they are by this mode of forcing exhausted, and 

 not worth preferring. The best way therefore is, to 

 ow a bed of sec-rale annually : in this way a regular 

 MCMiinn of pbntt will always be ready, either for 

 fqtriag in the open ground or in hot bed framm. 



By the various improvement!, therefore, of late years 

 made in the culture of sea-cale, this desirable vegeta- 

 ble may be commanded for table, with very little 

 trouble or ex pence, at my time from November till 

 May ; a period including all the dead months of the 

 year. It may be affirmed that sea-cale shoots, when 

 duly blanched, are not inferior to asparagus when pre- 

 pared like it ; and farther, that they form an excellent 

 ingredient for soup*. Not only the bead or shoot 

 (sometime* also called the crown) is fit for use, but the 

 bsMtfhfd stalk* of the unfolding leaves, four or five of 

 which are attached to each head. Before boiling, these 

 are detached, and tied in small bandies like asparagus. 

 vegetable which (s remarked by Sir George 

 Mackenzie, in the paper already mentioned) cannot 

 Mry be overdone in cooking; it should be thoroughly 



fere the fire, that a farther portion of moisture may be 

 exhaled. From tour to aix bead., according to theane, 



363. ft i* somewhat strange, that in France the use 

 of seaeale a* a defeat* ruhnary vegetable, should be 

 nearly unknown. Bojticn, in an edition of his ponu- 

 !ar .tfoaW* JMMrr, published in 1807, describe* 

 the * asarm iAugfdtrrt correctly enough : but be 

 appears to have tried to make use of the fall grown 

 leaves, instead of the blanched shoots in earlv spring : 

 a coarser me** can hanlly be imagined ; ami k is no 

 nder therefore that he ahoald deny the merit, of tea. 

 oak, and re*ign the plant, a* he does, with a sneer, to 



GUNtmW CmmmlAVBB "^W MM? tVPaWMHC MAfksVT OmW a 0V*f FVf 



aVM**t cfiaMfs /rou6. When the French gardener* 

 learn how to cuiu-ate it, and particularly when they 

 are able to force and to blanch it at mid-winter, by the 

 abore described, there can be no doubt 

 will become a favourite with the Pari- 



U hen seed i* wanted, if two or three strong plant* 

 be left to flower, they will not fail to produce it in 

 plenty. The flower i* of a rich white colour, and gives 

 the plant an nrnamintal appearance : whan fullv ex- 



the plant 



landed, Uit- 



appearance ; when fully ex- 

 Jl strongly of honey. 



364. The Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus, L.; Syngcncfia 

 Polygamia trqualii ; CinarocephaUr, Juss.) is a perennial 

 plant. It is a native of Italy according to Linnaeus, and 

 of the south of France, according to Garidel : but Beck- 

 mann, ( Hittory of Inventions and Discoveries, translated 

 by Johnston, vol. i. p. 339, et seq. J has given reasons for 

 thinking, that its native country is uncertain, the Ita- 

 lian and French specimens being probably only the 

 outcasts of gardens, and that the plant mentioned by 

 ancient Greek ami Roman writers, is not to be consi- 

 dered as our artichoke, but as a similar plant, the true 

 artichoke having been brought to Italy from the Le- 

 vant only in the 1 5th century. It is not known to have 

 been cultivated in English gardens till near the middle 

 of the 16th century. 



It is a remarkable and a well known plant in gar- 

 dens. From the root spring many large pinnatitid 

 leaves, three or four feet long, covered with an ash-co- 

 loured down ; the midrib deeply channelled and fur- 

 rowed. The appearance of the flower-heads is familiar. 

 These, in an immature state, contain the part used, 

 which is the fleshy receptacle, commonly called the 

 bottom, freed from the briitles and seed-down, vulgarly 

 called the choice. I n the usual way of cooking, the en- 

 tire heads are boiled. In eating, the portions of the 

 receptacle adhering to the base of the calyx-leaves or 

 scales are also used. The bottoms are sometimes fried 

 in paste, and they form a desirable ingredient in ra- 

 gout*. They are occasionally used for pickling ; and 

 sometimes they are slowly dried, and kept in paper- 

 bags for winter use. In France the bottoms of young 

 artichoke* are frequently used in the raw state as a 

 salad ; thin slice* are cut from the bottom, with a scale 

 or calyx-leaf attached, by which the slice is lifted, and 

 dipped in oil and vinegar before eating. 



365. There are two varieties cultivated ; the French, 

 conical, or green artichoke ; and the Glolie or red arti- 

 choke. The head of the former is rather of an oval 

 shape ; the scale* are open, and not turned in at top as 

 in the globe artichoke. The latter is distinguished not 

 only by the shape, and by the position of tin- -'ale*, 

 but by being chiefly of a dusky purple colour. The re- 

 ceptacle of the globe artichoke is more succulent th.in 

 that of the French, but the latter is generally consider- 

 ed a* possessing more flavour. 



Artichokes are increased by rooted slip* or suckers 

 taken off at the time of the spring dressing, in thi 

 ginning of April. They (It-light in a light loam, cool 

 but dry, and which i* at the same time rich and deep. 

 In preparing for this crop, the soil should be trenched 

 to the depth of three feet, or at least two feet and a 

 half, and manure should be liberally placed in the bot- 

 tom of the trench. In dry weather, the young plants 

 require regular watering for some time. Artichokes 

 will grow pretty well in a situation somewhat shaded, 

 but they should not be under the drip of tree*. In a 

 free and airy situation, however, the Leads are of bet- 

 ter quality. 



i mentions, that the strongest crop* he ever saw, 

 grew in rai her a mossy earth that had IMT n trenched 

 fully a yard in depth, and had been well enriched with 

 dung, and limed ; and that the plant* were generally 

 coTwed before winter with a mixture of stable litu V 

 and sea-weed. This last article, we believe, u one of 

 the very best manure* for artichokes. In no place i* 

 the plant to be seen in greater perfection than in gar- 

 in the Orkney Islands; and we know that the 



