116 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
CULTIVATION OF THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 
ONG the whole of our esculents there is not another 
that will yield a more certain and abundant increase 
than the Jerusalem Artichoke, being liable to no disease, 
thriving with impunity in almost any soil, and braving 
with considerable productiveness the worst possible 
situations. It is an astonishing tuber. The frosts of this country 
have no effect upon it. It does not even require litter to protect it 
in any way, while potatoes may be destroyed to any extent by one 
night’s frost. 
Its nutritive properties are greater than those of the potato, 
which we all so much admire, and which it is to be lamented is likely 
to perish without any efficient remedy being discovered to prevent 
the calamity. Let us therefore meet the evil in the best possible 
way, with the most palatable substitutes. 
Previous to the general cultivation of the potato, the Jerusalem 
Artichoke, as an article of food, was extensively planted in small 
gardens. With the French it is in much higher repute than with us, 
even amongst the middle and lower classes. About a century and a 
half ago, great attention and care were employed in its cultivation 
in France, as De la Quintyne informs us, and no doubt much of the 
success attending these early efforts may be attributed to the well 
manuring of the ground, to which no small degree of attention was 
paid, and to giving ample room between the rows, and between the 
sets in the rows, thus admitting sun and air freely amongst the 
plants. These particulars were evidently fully understood at that 
period; let us not overlook them now, but apply them in conjunc- 
tion with our more extended experience and knowledge in the art of 
cultivation which has been effected in more recent times. Rely 
upon it, this root will liberally reward us for all the care we may 
bestow upon its culture. In many instances tbe artichoke bed in 
this country is assigned to some obscure and sunless corner of the 
kitchen garden, and one planting often suffices for a generation ; 
like the horse-radish bed, it is dug amongst, and the roots cut and 
scattered about year after year, until plants spring up in all direc- 
tions as thickly as a bed of rushes. The tubers themselves, as may 
be expected, are small and worthless, because they are grown in land 
as hard as a footpath, which is completely exhausted of every particle 
of nourishment. In addition to the remarks already made relative 
to the cultivation of this artichoke, 1 beg to give the mode I have 
successfully pursued in growing it. 
Any soil capable of producing the potato is suitable for the 
Jerusalem Artichoke, always bearing in mind that, where the former 
thrives and produces best, the latter will succeed in like manner. 
Light, friable, loamy soil will always yield the best flavoured tubers. 
The soil should be deeply dug or subsoil ploughed, and a good dress- 
ing of farm-yard manure applied. It is quite useless to plant on 
poor, barren land, if a good crop is to be expected. They should be 
planted in rows, alternately two feet and four feet apart, and at least 
