GROWING CULTIVATED CROPS IN DRY AREAS 307 



may be harvested by sheep in mild areas. When har- 

 vesting these -crops by swine or sheep the waste is less 

 when the crop can be fed off in sections, by the use of 

 hurdles that are moved as occasion may call for such re- 

 moval. In northerly areas, such feeding off of the crop 

 is usually inadmissible. The yields will vary greatly, but 

 each class of roots discussed should furnish several hun- 

 dred bushels per acre. 



GROWING ARTICHOKES 



The artichoke, like the potato, is drought-resistant 

 in a marked degree. It will grow under a wider range 

 of conditions than the potato, and it is more persistent 

 in its habits of growth. It 'would seem correct to say 

 that it is the most hardy tuber grown. It is chiefly used' 

 in providing food for swine, and especially for swine that 

 are being carried through the winter. More commonly 

 the swine harvest the crop where it grew ; hence, in 

 northern areas, where the land is locked by frost during 

 much of the winter, the artichoke does not fulfill so im- 

 portant a mission, relatively, as where the winters are 

 mild. This plant is really a sunflower which produces 

 tubers, and in the tubers lies its chief value, although 

 the stalks are used to some extent in providing forage 

 for certain kinds of live stock. The tubers are sometimes 

 used as food for man. Instances are on record where 

 this crop has been grown for successive years, and on 

 the same land, from one planting, where the annual rain- 

 fall was not more than 10 inches. 



Soils. The soils that have highest adaptation for the 

 growth of potatoes have also the highest adaptation for 

 the growth of artichokes (see p. 291). It is of consider- 

 able importance that the artichoke shall be grown on 

 land possessed of much friability, as swine can dig in 

 such land more readily than in stiff clays. 



