628 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



fact ascertained by Knight deserves to be particularly noticed : it is this ; that by plant- 

 ing late in the season, perhaps in June, or even in July, an exhausted good variety may 

 in a great measure be restored ; that is, the tubers resulting from the late planting, when 

 again planted at the ordinary season, produce the kind in its pristine vigor, and of its for- 

 mer size. 



3686. Crichton, who has made a variety of experiments on the effects of exposure 

 to the air in hampers and open floors, and on exclusion of the air by covering with earth 

 {Caled. Mem. vol. i. 440.), concludes, " That the curl in the potatoe may often be occa- 

 sioned by the way the potatoes are treated that are intended for seed. I have obsen'ed, 

 that wherever the seed-stock is carefully pitted, and not exposed to the air in the spring," 

 the crop has seldom any curl ; but where the seed-stock is put into bams and out-houses 

 for months together, such crop seldom escapes turning out, in a great measure, curled ; 

 and if but few curl the first year, if they are planted again, it is more than probable the 

 half of them will curl next season." 



3687. For forcing i)otatoes, see Ch..Y 11. Sect. XL 



SuBSECT. 2. Jerusalem Artichoke. — Helianthiis tuberosus, L. {Jac. Vind. 2. t. 161.) 

 Syng. Polyg. Fnist. L. and Corj/mbifercv, J. Poire de Terre, Fr. ; Frde Apfd, Ger. ; 

 and Girasole, Ital. 



3688. The Jerusalem artichoke is a hardy perennial, a native of Brazil, and introduced 

 in 1617. It has the habit of a common sun-flov. er, but grows much taller, often rising 

 ten or twelve feet high. The season of its flowering is September and October ; but 

 though its roots endure our hardest Avinters, the pl^nt seldom flowers with us, and it never 

 ripens its seed. The roots are creeping, and are furnished with many red tubers, clus- 

 tered together, perhaps from thirty to fifty to a plant. Before potatoes were known, this 

 plant was much esteemed. The epithet Jerusalem is a mere corruption of the Italian word 

 Girasole (from girare, to turn, and sol), or sun-flower ; the name Artichoke is bestowed 

 from the resemblance in flavor which the tubers have to the bottoms of artichokes. 



3689. Use. The roots are esteemed a wholesome, nutritious food, and are eaten 

 boiled, mashed with butter, or baked in pies, and have an excellent flavor. Planted in 

 rows, from east to west, the upright herb of the plant affords a salutarj' shade to such 

 culinary vegetables as require it, in the midsummer months, as lettuce, turnips, strawber- 

 ries, &c. 



3690. Propagation. It is raised by planting, either some small offset tubers of the main roots, or middling- 

 sized roots cut into pieces for sets, which is more eligible. Preserve one or two full eyes to each cutting. 



3691. Quantity of sets. For a row 120 feet in length, the sets being inserted two feet apart, half a peck, 

 or sixty roots, will be sufficient. {Abercromhie.) 



3692. Culture. It will grow in any spare ordinary part of the garden ; but to obtain fine large roots, give 

 it an open compartment of pretty good mellow ground. The season for planting is February, March, or be- 

 ginning of April. Having digged the compartment, plant them, either by dibble, in rows two feet and a half 

 asunder, about eighteen inches in the lines, and three or four inches deep ; or, in drills by a hoe, the same 

 depth and distances. The plants will come up in April and May. In their advancing growth, hoe and cut 

 down all weeds, drawing a little earth to the bottom of the stems. The root will multiply into a progeny of 

 tubers, in a cluster, in each plant, increasing in size till September and October : you may then cut away the 

 stems, and dig up the produce as wanting. Or, in November, when they are wholly done growing, it will be 

 proper to take up a quantity, and lay in dry sand under cover, to be ready as wanting, in frosty weather, when 

 the others are frozen up in the ground, or affected by the frost. As the roots of this plant are very prolific, 

 the smallest piece of a tuber will grow. In taking up the produce, you sliould therefore clear all out as well 

 as possible ; as any remaining part will come up the following year disorderly, and pester the ground ; and 

 ■would thus continue rising for many years, but not eligible to cultivate for a good crop. Therefore, to an- 

 swer a demand, make a fresh plantation every year. {Abercrombie.) 



SuBSECT. 3. Turnip. — Brassica Rapa, L. and Dec. (Eng. Bot. 2176.) Tetrad, 

 SUiq. L. and Cniciferce, J. Navet, Fr. ; Steckriibe, Ger. ; and Navone, Ital. 



3693. The turnip is a biennial plant, growing in a wild state in some parts of Eng- 

 land ; but better known as an inhabitant of the garden and the farm. In its wild state, 

 the root-leaves are large, of a deep-green color, very rough, jagged, and gashed ; in the 

 second season it sends up a flower-stalk, with leaves embracing the stem, smooth, glau- 

 cous, oblong, and pointed. 



3694. Use. The use of the root, boiled and mashed as a dish, in broths, soups, and 

 stews, or entire, is familiar over all Europe. Tlie top-shoots, from such as have stood 

 the winter, are gathered whilst tender, and dressed as spring greens or spinage. The seed 

 is also sometimes sown as small salading. " The navet, or French turnip, is considered a 

 distinct species, and is the B. Napus, L. and B. N. var. /8. esculenta,Dec., or edible rape. 

 It is a different plant from the navet of Decandolle, which he calls B. campestris, var. 

 7. napo-brassica." Of the true navet or French turnip cultivated in England, Dickson 

 observes {Hort. Trans, vol. i.), " that it enriches all the foreign soups. Stewed in gravy, 

 it forms a most excellent dish, and being white, and of the shape of a carrot, when mixed 

 alternately with those roots upon a dish, it is very ornamental. In France, as well as in 

 Germany, few great dinners are served up^ without it in one shape or other." In using 

 it, there is no necessity to cut away the outer skin or rind, in which, indeed, the flavor 



