v.] 



ARTICHOKE. 



61 



should be about live feet apart. Each clump should have four 

 good plants in it, and these should be well fastened in the ground, 

 each plant standing at about nine inchesfrom the other. When 

 winter comes on, if hard frosts come, the clumps should be covered 

 pretty thickly with litter, which, however, should be taken of( 

 again as soon as the frost is out of the ground ; but no plant which 

 has been covered to be protected from the frost should be unco- 

 vered, and the sun left to come upon the ground where it stands, 

 before the thaw has completely taken place. In the spring, the 

 ground about the clumps should be moved up a little with a fork, 

 and nicely broken in dry weather, in March or April. These 

 plants will bear fruit the first year ; and, if properly managed, will 

 continue to bear for a great many years. When their roots reach 

 stagnant water, or any soil which they do not like, the plants begin 

 to give out ; but, otherwise, they will keep bearing for a great 

 number of years. The next spring, that is to say, the second 

 spring after being planted out, you will find that they have 

 sent out great numbers of side-shoots or offsets ; you should, 

 therefore, move the earth away a little round the clump, and take 

 off these offsets, which would otherwise prevent the great bearing 

 of the plant. When you take off these offsets, you will find some 

 very stout, while others will be very weak ; and, if you want a new 

 plantation, these offsets are as good plants as any ; and if stout, 

 they will bear the first year, but, and very conveniently, they will 

 come into bearing after the old plants have done. The artichoke, 

 although so robust a plant, is very sensible of the frost. Therefore, 

 each clump should have the earth drawn up pretty much about it 

 in the fall of the year, but in dry weather if possible, and in very 

 severe weather, some litter should be laid on the top of each 

 clump, being always taken off as soon as the frost is completely 

 out of the ground. In the spring, the whole of the ground ought 

 to be carefully dug, and the earth levelled down from the sides of 

 the clumps ; the offsets should now be taken off, and the plants 

 left to produce their crop. The rows of plants being five feet 

 apart, affords an opportunity for planting other things between 

 them ; but this can hardly be done to any great advantage except 

 you be in very great want of room ; for, what you gain in this way, 

 you lose by the imperfect culture of the artichakes. They love 

 cooZ ground, though not stagnant water at the bottom ; and perhaps 

 the best situation for them would be under the south side hedge 



