136 Richard Frotscher^s Almanac a/nd Garden Manual 



mous. Three bushels of tubers are amply suffii5ient to plant an 

 acre, the large ones beiug cut into pieces with two or three eyes 

 like potatoes. The land should be thoroughly ploughed, and 

 from January to April they should be planted in furrows about 

 three to four feet apart, dropping the tubers about eighteen inches 

 apart, and covering with a plough. 



When they are well up, plough them as you would corn ; and 

 when about a foot high, plough them again, throwing a furrow to 

 each side, and you are done cultivating them forever. The first 

 year they will yield a good crop, (from five to eight hundred bush- 

 els), and will improve for two or three years, if the soil is good, 

 till they double the product of the first year. On piney-woods 

 land seven hundred bushels to the acre is only a fair yield. On 

 very rich land 1500 to 2()00 bushels, it is said, have been produced. 

 InA ugust the tops may be cut and cured for hay, which is quite 

 equal to corn fodder, or may be fed greea, soiled. The yield is 

 large, and the tops are eagerly eaten by cattle, , horses and mules. 

 The tops, if cut, should betaken off about a foot from the ground. 

 One cutting does not at all affect the yield of the tubers. In I^o- 

 vember the hogs should be turned in to harvest the tubers for 

 themselves, and may remain on them till March. In carbonace- 

 ous matter — starch or its equivalent — they are but a trifle inferior 

 to potatoes, as will be seen from the following table: 



In 1000 parts — Flesh Formers. Fat Formers. 



Potatoes 14 189 



Carrots 6 66 



Parsnips . . . „ 12 70 



Mangolds 2 102 



Sugar Beets 3 136 



White Turnips 1 40 



Artichokes 10 188 



Thus it will be seen that in 1000 parts potatoes contain 200 

 parts of nutriment, and artichokes 198 parts ; while turnips con- 

 tain only 41 parts. Yet the turnip, above all roots, has made 

 English agriculture progressive, because they may be fed on land 

 without gatherir?g. The artichoke is unaffected in the ground by 

 any amount of cold, and, indeed, should always remain there un- 

 til gathered for use or planting. 



The enormous yield, the small amount of labor in cultivation, 

 and the nutritious character of the tubers, make them the most 

 economical food for hogs thac can possibly be grown. And the 

 hog8, if suffered to root them, will be an advantage to them by 

 breaking up and softening the soil as f.ir down as pulverized. 

 Sows with sucJcling pigs should not go on them, as the artichokes are 

 said to injure the quality of the milk so as to cause suckling pigs 

 to dwindle ; but as soon as they are weaned rhe pigs will do finely 

 by rooting for their living. These artichokes are also the health- 

 iest food that hogs can have, and they need nothing else but salt, 

 ashes and water when fed on them. 



Price per Qt. per Gall. per Bush. 



