THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
95 
plants the first year, but, as a rule, they do not produce 
until the second year, and in the third year they are im- 
mensely productive and the heads are extra fine. In taking- 
offsets for planting, carefully cut them away from the stools 
with a few roots attached, and plant at once and cover with 
empty flower-pots until they begin to grow, giving them as 
little water as they can do with, for if much watered they are 
apt to rot. 
To protect in winter is a troublesome job, but the best plan 
appears to be to pack a lot of waste straw around the plants, 
and then throw some earth on to keep the straw in its place. 
Towards the end of April the protective material should be 
cleared away, and the ground should be forked over and a 
coat of manure pricked in. 
We have always some fine plantations that cost but little 
trouble. We sow a row or two in April or May and thin to 
a yard apart, and that is all we do. We never protect in 
winter, and about once in five years or so we lose a lot of 
plants, but it always happens that enough survive to supply 
ten times more heads than are wanted, and in the course of 
the summer a new lot rises to make all right. 
The Cardoon ( Cynara cardunculus) is grown for its 
tender leaf stalks, which are blanched for use in stews, 
soups, salads, and in the manner of seakale. There are 
several modes of raising a crop, but the best is to sow on 
rich deep soil in rows four feet apart, in the last week of 
April, and thin to a foot apart as soon as the plants are 
growing freely. From the thinnings a plantation may be 
made, and in this case they may be put at six inches apart, 
but the rows must be four feet asunder, to allow of necessary 
work between. This consists in loosely tieing them together 
and earthing up to blanch the stems, which should be com- 
menced in August. More earth should be added from time 
to time until they are banked up two feet high. If extra 
fine growth is required, treat precisely the same as celery. 
Our practice, how r ever, has always been to grow on the flat, 
for we have on several occasions lost many plants when they 
have been in trenches, owing to their dislike of moisture. 
When the stems are cut up for cooking they should be 
thrown into a bowl of clean water, into which a little juice 
of a lemon has been squeezed ; if this is not done they are 
apt to have a blackish appearance when placed on the table. 
