THE CARDOON. 



67i 



1-19G. Culture for producing the chard. — This is oply attempted when the 

 artichoke plantation is to be renewed, and the old plants to be thrown away. 

 After Midsummer, cut over the leaves within half a foot of the ground, and 

 the stems as low as possible. Then, when the new crop of leaves, whicli 

 will be produced in September or October, are about two feet high, tie them 

 up close, first slightly with matting, and in a few days afterwards with hay 

 or straw, and earth them up like celery ; or lay litter round the stems. In 

 a month or six weeks, the interior leaves will be found completely blanched, 

 and fit for use. By digging up the plants before frost sets in, and planting 

 them in sand in an open shed, they will keep till Christmas, or later. 



The artichoke is seldom attacked by insects^ and though generally propa- 

 gated by division, slips, or suckers, yet it ripens seeds freely in September, 

 which, sown the following spring, will produce heads in the second summer. 

 The seed keeps three years. 



SuBSECT. IV. — The Cardoon. 



1497. The cardoon, or chardoon, Cynara Cardunculus L. (Cardon, Fr.), 

 is a carduaceous perennial, a native of the South of Europe and the North of 

 Africa, closely resembling the artichoke in appearance and properties. It 

 lias long been cultivated in gardens for the mid-rib of the leaf, which is ren- 

 dered white and tender by blanching, and is used stewed, or in soups and 

 salads during autumn and winter, much in the same manner as celery. The 

 flavour is that of the artichoke. It is much more in request on the conthient 

 than in England. In France the corollas, both of the cardoon and the 

 artichoke, as well as those of several thistles, are dried and used as a substi- 

 tute for rennet, in curdling milk. 



1498. Cookery of the cardoon. — "When a cardoon is to be cooked, its 

 heart, and the solid, not piped, stalks of the leaves are to be cut into pieces, 

 about six inches long, and boiled like any other vegetable, in pure water, 

 not salt and water, till they are tender. They are then to be carefully 

 deprived of the slime and strings which will be found to cover them ; and 

 having thus been thoroughly cleaned, are to be plunged in cold water, where 

 they mast remain till they are wanted for the table ; they are then taken 

 out and heated with white sauce, marrow, or any other of the adjuncts recom- 

 mended in cookery books. The process just described is for the purpose of 

 rendering them white, and depriving them of a bitterness which is peculiar to 

 them ; if neglected, the cardoons will be black, not white, as well as dis- 

 agreeable." — (^Gard. Chron., p. 143.) 



1499. Varieties^ propagation, S^c. — There are several varieties, but the 

 best are the cardoon of Tours, and the Spanish cardoon. The cardoon is 

 always propagated by seed, which must not be sown too early, unless it is 

 abundantly supplied with water in the dry season, otherwise it is apt to run 

 to flower. In the climate of London, the end of April, or beginning of May, 

 is found a proper time for a crop to come into use in November ; but an 

 earlier crop may be obtamed by sowing in March. It may be sown and 

 transplanted, but it is found best to raise the plants where they are finally 

 to remain. Sow in patches of three or four seeds. Prepare shallow trenches 

 a foot wide, and four feet apart centre from centre, manuring the soil in the 

 bottom of the trench. Sow the seed in patches in the centre of the trench 

 twenty inches, or two feet apart, and as soon as the plants come up, one 

 only should be left in each patch. Tw^o ounces of seed will be sufficient for 



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