Culture of the Jerusalem Artichoke. 259 



" I am fully convinced that Swan River seeds will germinate 

 better under the above treatment than by the common practice of 

 placing them in a cold-frame, and that even the young plants 

 will not only stand but grow better in a high temperature. As 

 a proof of which, my esteemed employer, Mrs. Wray, raised 

 (last year) a number of very interesting plants from Swan River 

 seeds, some of which were placed in the stove, and others in 

 the green-house : those in the stove are now three times the size 

 of those in the green-house, and appear much more healthy. 

 A few of these are now showing flower, which I believe to be 

 new to this country ; but, as they will soon prove themselves, I 

 shall refrain from making any premature remarks. There are 

 also several species of a genus the appearance of which is quite 

 a novelty to our gardeners, being more like a common rush 

 (t/uncus conglomeratus) than any thing I know. 

 OaJifield, Cheltenham, April 10. 1840. 



Art. XI. On the Jerusalem Artichoke. By Alexander Forsyth. 



In March or April plant the tubers, cut into sets like po- 

 tatoes, with a bud in each, in rows alternately 1 ft. and 3 ft. 

 apart, dropping the sets about 9 in. apart in the row. As the 

 plants advance they must be topped (say when 18 in. high), and 

 earthed up ; in autumn they may be used, as soon as tubers can 

 be got as large as a pigeon's egg. When frost approaches, they 

 may be carefully forked out and collected, when the best may 

 be stored in cold dry earth for use and sets, and the inferior 

 ones boiled for pigs or poultry, but by no means wheeled with 

 other waste vegetable substances, lest they should afterwards 

 prove troublesome as a weed. 



Isleworth, October. 1836. 



Art. XII. On the Wild Potato [Soldnuin tuberhsilm). 



(Translated from Poppig's Reise hi CJiile und Peru, for the Garde7ier'' s Maga- 



z'me, by J. L.) 



Among the cultivated vegetables in the Andes of Peru, none 

 is more remarkable for its abundance and goodness than the 

 potato. The question has often been asked in modern times, 

 whether this plant is met with in a wild state in Peru and Chile; 

 and, besides what has been said by the meritorious Lambert, 

 Alexander Cruickshanks, whom I accompanied in 1827, made 

 the strictest enquiry respecting it in Chile, and has written on 

 the subject. I fully agree with him that the potato is a native 

 of, and still grows wild in, Chile ; and I am the more convinced 



