ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS.— THE ARTICHOKE. 



133 



lysed by the frost, or dies off when its 

 natural functions are completed. When 

 we look back to the practice of the olden 

 times, it is quite enough to make one 

 shudder to think of the mutilations to 

 which most plants were subjected. Celery 

 and leeks were deprived of the half, and 

 that half the best, of their leaves at plant- 

 ing : artichokes, cardoons, &c, shared 

 a similar fate. Ask the physiologist 

 what is the use of leaves, and whether 

 they should be wantonly destroyed ? In 

 deep peaty soils, when well limed and 

 manured, artichokes have been grown to 

 a very large size ; and even the recom- 

 mendation of Columella has, of late years, 

 been revived — namely, to manure them 

 with wood-ashes and salt. 



Taking the crop, and subsequent preserva- 

 tion. — For pickling whole, and some other 

 purposes, the heads should be cut when 

 about 2 inches in diameter ; for the other 

 purposes, when they have attained nearly 

 their full size, but before the scales of the 

 calyx begin to open ; for what is called 

 bottoms, when they are at their largest 

 size, and just as the scales begin to show 

 symptoms of opening, which is an indica- 

 tion that the flowers are about to be 

 formed, after which the heads are useless, 

 unless it be for those who use the flowers 

 to coagulate milk, which they have the 

 property of doing; but very few, we be- 

 lieve, make use of them for this purpose. 

 The heads should be cut close from the 

 stalk, in which state they are fit for use. 

 Three to five heads make a dish. If to 

 be preserved for any time after cutting, 

 they should be cut with 6 or 8 inches of 

 the stalks attached to each head, carried 

 to the dark root-cellar, and stuck into a 

 bed of damp sand. They should be taken 

 up from thence every third or fourth day, 

 and a section about as thick as a penny- 

 piece cut off the ends of each, and again 

 replaced. This is to allow a free ascent 

 of the moisture from the sand being 

 carried up through the stalk for the nou- 

 rishment of the head. 



Approved sorts, and their qualities. — The 

 English only recognise three sorts, viz., the 

 oval, conical, or French, the large globe, and the 

 dwarf globe. The French, however, possess 

 other varieties; but these are not of sufficient 

 merit to lay great claim on our attention. M. 

 Jacques, formerly one of the royal gardeners at 

 Neuilly, produced plants from seed a year or 

 two ago, the heads of which weighed 2 lb., and 

 VOL. II. 



Fig. 51. 



ARTICHOKE TORTOISE 

 BEETLE. 



grub, pupa, and beetle. 



measured 2 feet in circumference, while the 

 whole plant' did not exceed 2 feet in height. 

 We believe these varieties have not been re- 

 ceived into this country. If this variety remains 

 permanent, it would be a vast acquisition for 

 certain purposes, but evidently too large for the 

 way in which they are usually served up to our 

 tables. The first has its heads oval and green, 

 with the scales open ; the second is somewhat 

 larger, globular, and tinged with a purplish 

 colour — the scales are also turned in, or inflexed, 

 at the top ; the third is in all respects smaller, 

 but very prolific. 



Insects and diseases. — The artichoke appears 

 to have no diseases and few insect enemies; and 

 in consequence of this, is considered, in rotation, 

 to be an excellent crop preparatory for onions, 

 carrots, &c, which are so liable to their attacks. 



Sometimes, however, the 

 leaves are attacked by the 

 larvse of a very curious small 

 beetle, Cassida xiridis, fig. 

 51, which, on account of its 

 being found on this plant, is 

 called the artichoke tortoise 

 beetle. It is found in May 

 and June — is not more than 

 T X 6 of an inch in length ; the 

 " antenna? are black, the 

 dotted wing-cases and other 

 outer coverings green ; the 

 body is black beneath, and 

 the legs pale, with black thighs. The larva 

 has a very fiat body, with spines upon its edges ; 

 and it has the singular habit of covering itself 

 with its own excrement, which it unites together 

 in a mass, and carries on a kind of fork, at- 

 tached to its tail. The pupa is also very flat, 

 having thin toothed appendages at the sides of 

 the body, with a broad thorax, prolonged for- 

 ward into a rounded expansion, which covers its 

 head." — Cottage Gardener, vol. iii. p. 317. 



General remarks. — The European names are, 

 Artisj ok in Dutch, Artischoke in German, Arti- 

 chaut in French, Cinauco in Spanish and Por- 

 tuguese, and Carciofo in Italian. The flower of 

 the artichoke, when its florets, which form a 

 noble purple crown, are expanded, have a fine 

 appearance ; at which time, if seed be desired, 

 they should be partially broken over, and 

 allowed to hang ten or twelve days with their 

 crowns undermost, to prevent rain from enter- 

 ing, which, in such a mass, is liable to cause 

 rottenness. After that period they may be cut 

 off entirely, and hung upon a dry place, till the 

 seed begins to drop out. It is rarely they ripen 

 seed with us. 



When artichokes are to be cultivated for 

 chard, all the leaves are to be cut over in June 

 to within 6 inches of the ground, and the stalks 

 close to it — indeed, if broken over quite low 

 down, the better. Young leaves will be produced 

 in September and October ; and when of the 

 height of 2 feet, they should be tied together, 

 but not very closely, and wound round with 

 hay -bands to blanch them ; and still farther to 

 encourage etiolation, a little littering matter may 

 be packed round them, secured from blowing 

 away. Some, however, earth them up like 



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