216 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



flavor, it is preferred as a garden vegetable, though the 

 scolymus is more hardy and productive in cold climates 

 The ash of the artichoke has been analyzed by Rich- 

 ardson, and found to be constituted as follows : — 



Potassa, 



Soda, 



Lime, 



Magnesia, 



Sulphuric Acid, 



Silicic Acid, . 



Phosphoric Acid, 



Phosphate of Iron, 



Chloride of Sodium, 



24.04 

 5.52 

 9.56 

 4.14 

 5.18 

 7.02 



36.23 

 4.74 

 3.57 



100.00 



Potash and phosphoric acid are the most abundant con- 

 stituents, indicating the application of ashes and bone-dust 

 as the best special manures. 



Propagation and Culture. — Artichokes are propagated 

 by seed, or by off-sets from the old roots. If by seed, 

 sow in February or the first of March, in drills an inch 

 and a half deep, and a foot apart in very rich earth ; if 

 you have it to spare, they do still better by sowing them 

 earlier in a cold frame. Transplant them when from six 

 to twelve inches high into a very rich soil. If the beds 

 are thinned out by transplanting, so that the plants are 

 left a foot apart in the rows, they may remain in the seed 

 bed until fall. The finest heads are produced in a rich 

 moist loam, and into such a soil they should be trans- 

 planted. The best compost is a mixture of three parts well 

 decomposed manure and one of leached ashes. They 

 require an open exposure, free from the shade and drip of 

 trees, or the plants will spindle and produce worthless 

 heads. The rows must be four feet and a half apart, and 



