V. HYSSOP, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 



as before j and thus there will be a succession of young 

 long roots j for, after the horse-radish has borne seed 

 once or twice, iti root becomes hard, brown on the out- 

 side, not juicy when it is scraped, and eats more like 

 little chips than like a garden vegetable : so that, at 

 taverns and eating-houses, there frequently seems to be 

 a rivalship on the point of toughness between the horse- 

 radish and the beef-steak j and it would be well if this 

 inconvenient rivalship never discovered itself any where 

 else. 



153. HYSSOP is a sort of half- woody shrub, some- 

 thing between a tree and an herbaceous plant. The 

 flower-spikes are used, fresh or dry, for medicinal pur- 

 poses. It is propagated from seed or from offsets. A 

 very little of it is enough : a couple of plants in the 

 herb-bed may suffice for any family. 



154. JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. This plant bears 

 at the root, like a potatoe, which, to the great misfortune 

 of many of the human race, is every where but too well 

 known. But, this artichoke, which is also dug up and 

 cooked like a potatoe, has, at any rate, the merit of giving 

 no trouble either in the cultivation or the propagation. 

 A handful of the bits of its fruit, or even of its roots, 

 flung about a piece of ground of any sort, will keep 

 bearing for ever in spite of grass and weeds j the diffi- 

 culty being, not to get it to grow, but to get the ground 

 free from it when once it has taken to growing. It is a 

 very poor, insipid vegetable ; but, if you have a relish 

 for it, pray keep it out of the garden, and dig up the 



