104 FARM CROPS 



poses, but are most commonly grown as stock food. 

 The tubers may be harvested or left in the ground. 

 If the soil is not too wet they keep very well in this 

 way. If grown for hogs, the common practice is 

 to let the hogs do the harvesting themselves ; that 

 is, root all about and gather the tubers themselves, 

 usually leaving enough in the soil to replant the 

 crop another season. Very large quantities of 

 tubers are secured, the yield varying from 300 to 

 1,000 bushels to the acre. They give a great deal 

 of food, being about equal in nutritive value to 

 potatoes and above turnips and mangels. After 

 hogs have acquired a taste for the tubers they eat 

 them greedily. Being heavy carriers of starch, 

 artichokes are a good substitute for corn and not 

 only maintain steady growth, but fatten as well. 



Artichokes are not intended to be a main crop 

 on the farm, but more as a side issue. Where hogs 

 are raised by the lot method a small patch of arti- 

 chokes is desirable. During the summer season the 

 hogs can be pastured on clover or rye to roam in 

 the wheat fields or other pasture fields and when 

 fall comes on be turned into the artichoke patch 

 where they will get a good ration for several weeks. 

 In the following spring the artichoke patch should 

 be disked or harrowed over and the soil put in good 

 condition again. As the plants begin to grow, if 

 planted in rows, cultivation should be carried on to 

 keep the weeds down and to give the crop the value 

 of culture. The plants growing between the rows 

 may be cultivated out. If the planting be broad- 

 cast, then no cultivations other than the harrowings 

 will be necessary. 



In starting an artichoke patch some care should 

 be exercised in the soil selected. They like well- 



