132 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



except from three to four of the strongest 

 and best placed. Cut the crop as it is 

 fit for use, whether wanted or not, as 

 allowing them to flower greatly weakens 

 the plants, as does also allowing the 

 stems that produced the heads to remain 

 after the heads are cut off. No planta- 

 tion should be allowed to continue on the 

 same ground more than four or five 

 years, and the biennial system is the best. 

 When the crop is finished, which will 

 sometimes occur about the end of Octo- 

 ber or beginning of November, the ground 

 should be heavily manured, and the 

 plants protected from frost by covering 

 the ground around the roots with stable 

 litter, leaves, fern, rotten tan, or finely- 

 sifted coal-ashes. The latter we prefer, 

 as it excludes both the wet and frost 

 better than either. Many dig out the 

 soil from between the rows and bank it 

 up over the roots, which is both a labori- 

 ous and useless practice. Whichever of 

 these modes is followed, it is essential 

 that the leaves of the plants be not buried. 

 In spring the covering is removed when 

 all danger of frost is past, and before the 

 plants begin to shoot. 



Some recommend potting some of the 

 small suckers in autumn, preserving them 

 during winter in a pit, and planting them 

 out in May. This is quite uncalled for, 

 as abundance of small suckers may be 

 obtained from the old plants in May na- 

 turally, if they have not been destroyed 

 as they arise from the stools; or a few 

 plants may be left only, moderately thin- 

 ned for the purpose. Our May-planted 

 crop, by such means, continues to bear 

 till the middle of November. Protection 

 is necessary, as, although it does not 

 often happen in moderate climates that 

 they are killed during winter, yet such 

 accidents have occurred. It is recorded 

 that once, during the seventeenth century, 

 and again in 1739, almost all the arti- 

 chokes in England were destroyed by the 

 frost, and that they were again intro- 

 duced from France. In 1814, in Scot- 

 land, they were much injured ; and again 

 in 1837-8, both in England and Scotland, 

 unless where very carefully covered, they 

 suffered very much. In all cold exposed 

 situations covering is positively necessary, 

 and in most others expedient. 



Soil and manure. — The roots penetrate 

 to a great depth, therefore the soil should 



be deep, well drained, and of a light 

 loamy texture, highly enriched with good 

 manure, and that deposited at the bottom 

 of the trenches, as well as incorporated 

 through the soil during the process of 

 trenching. Few culinary plants, if we 

 except the asparagus and sea-kale, like 

 salt more than this; it should be supplied 

 liberally, and repeated as a top-dressing 

 twice during each growing season. Heads 

 of very large size are produced in the 

 Orkney islands, resulting, it is said, from 

 the quantity of sea- weed employed in the 

 culture. We incline to more than mere 

 supposition, that the cause really is the 

 saline matter carried up from the sea 

 into the atmosphere, and in this way ren- 

 dered beneficial to the~ plants. The larger 

 the heads are, the more eatable matter 

 will be formed ; and not only that, but it 

 will be more delicate and high-flavoured ; 

 therefore, to obtain large heads, strong 

 plants must be produced, and this is only 

 to be attained by allowing them plenty 

 of room for their large foliage to develop 

 itself fully, presenting the largest possible 

 extent of their surface to the atmosphere, 

 from which so very much of their actual 

 food is derived. Young plants of two 

 years' growth, and as rich a soil as can 

 be afforded them for the roots to play 

 their part in, are the conditions necessary 

 to attain this end; and also, when the 

 stalks show many heads, these should be 

 reduced in number to two or three ; and 

 when the largest size of all is desired, 

 only one head should be allowed to a 

 stem, and all the small ones forming, on 

 lateral branches, should be removed. A 

 very dangerous recommendation has been 

 given in " The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia " 

 — namely, to insure large heads, "the 

 ends of the leaves should be shortened." 

 Than this no worse counsel could be 

 given, inasmuch as the leaves perform so 

 important a part in the collecting and 

 elaborating the food of the plant. Aber- 

 crombie, the very best of our old garden- 

 ing authors, but evidently no physiologist, 

 errs much when he recommends cutting 

 off all the large leaves previous to cover- 

 ing the plants in autumn. We say, let the 

 leaves, large and small, remain and die 

 off of their own accord ; for as long as a 

 leaf remains green, or continues to be a 

 living thing, it goes on supplying the 

 plant with food until it becomes para- 



