56 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



The seed may be dibbled into holes an inch deep and a 

 foot apart, placing three or four seeds in each hole, and 

 removing all the plants but one after they have formed 

 their third leaf. In other respects the cultivation is so 

 similar to that of the parsnep, that it is needless to repeat 

 it. It flourishes best in a rich loamy soil, and requires to 

 be sown about a fortnight later than the parsnep. As soon 

 as the roots of the red or purple beet are matured, they 

 should be taken up very carefully, and stored in pits similar 

 to those recommended for carrots. In taking them from 

 the ground, and divesting them of their leaves, care must 

 be taken not to V70und the root, vs^hich V70uld bleed most 

 profusely, and be much injured by it. The root of the 

 white beet is not used, but the leaves are boiled like 

 spinage, though they are not quite so good. The curled 

 white is the best, and looks very pretty in the cottage 

 gardens in Switzerland, in which it is universally grown. 



5. — Jerusalem * ArticJioke. 



This is a sort of sun-flower, bearing on its roots a num- 

 ber of long and roundish tubers, like small potatoes, which 

 are pulpy and sweet, containing much sugar, and there- 

 fore nourishing and wholesome. 



All that is necessary to ensure a good crop, is to plant 

 pieces of the tubers, or whole tubers, at any time through 

 the winter or spring in a well-manured soil, in drills, from 

 east to west, three feet apart, and two feet between the 

 sets, covering them with three inches depth of earth. 



In all other respects they may be treated like potatoes, 

 except that they do not require so much hoeing ; and as 

 they are not injured by a moderate degree of frost, they 

 need not, at least in the south, be taken up on that account. 

 In consequence of their growing from seven to ten feet 

 high, they must not be planted where they will shade 

 other crops from light and air: but for strawberries, they 

 are recommended as a summer shade by some gardeners, 

 though, perhaps, rather injudiciously. They sometimes 

 become a troublesome weed, as difficult to get rid of as 



* The name is not from the City of Jerusalem^ but a corruption 

 of the Italian Girasole, meaning "sun-flower." 



