1884.] 
AMEEICAI^ AGEIOXJLTUEIST. 
165 
What is Cardoon? 
A lady who sees Cardoon in her seed catalogue 
every year, wishes to know what it is like, and “if 
it would be worth her while to try it ? ”—Cardoon 
is a very large, thistle-like plant. The first year 
from the seed it makes a tuft of large, handsomely 
divided leaves ; the second year the flower stalk 
appears, and runs up to the hight of six feet, bear¬ 
ing numerous clusters of blue flowers, resembling 
the heads of a thistle. The leaf-stalks of the first 
year are the edible portion. After the outer leaves 
have madetheir growth, the leaf-stalks are brought 
together and tied to hold them erect, the whole 
cluster is then closely wound, beginning at the bot¬ 
tom, with a hay or straw rope, to exclude the 
light, and blanch the leaf-stalks. Blanching is 
sometimes effected by surrounding the plants with 
straw, placed erect around them, and binding it on. 
In our only trial of this method we succeeded in 
blanching Cardoon by surrounding it with very 
heavy brown paper. The engraving shows the ap¬ 
pearance of a cluster after blanching, ready for tlie 
kitchen or market. The leaf-stalks are very tender 
and crisp. They are usually stewed and dressed 
with white sauce. Those who like Jerusalam 
Artichokes will probably fancy Cardoon, as 
their flavor is very similar and also with cheese. 
Heavy Manuring in the Garden. 
The garden, though a small patch upon the farm, 
generally an acre or less, if properly cared for will 
bring more profitable returns than any cultivated 
fields. AU the vegetables and small fruits that 
can be consumed in a large family, with a surplus 
for market, can be raised with very little difficulty. 
It will add much to the health and happiness of the 
household to have every appetite satisfied with a 
dally supply of seasonable fruit and vegetables. To 
do this the garden must have abundant manure. 
Though other fields lack, give the garden all it can 
appropriate, for the same reason that the Jersey 
cow or the best milker has all the food she can di¬ 
gest. The profit is in the surplus feed above what 
will sustain her normal weight. The garden is to 
supply the finest products to the table ; let the soil 
have all the fertilizers the plants can make use of. 
The profit is in their full feeding. Their qual¬ 
ity will be better, and the cost at its mini¬ 
mum. The garden is ordinarily near the baiii-yard, 
the pig sty, the hennery, the privy, and the sink 
drain, and should have the first claim upon every 
fertilizer made upon the farm ; and if that is not 
enough add concentrated fertilizers from abroad. 
It is none too much to fertilize the garden at the 
rate of twenty cords of well-rotted manure to the 
acre. Let every plant, tree and shrub in it have 
enough to eat. Give the garden the first claim 
upon your compost heaps, and when you iiave 
spread broadcast and ploAvcd in all the manure 
you cap afford, do not fail to have a few bags of 
special manures for top-dressing during the grow¬ 
ing season. Full fed plants are far less likely 
to bo hurt by insects than half-starved ones. 
Everlasting' Flowers—Improved. 
Among the “ Everlasting Flowers ”■ those most 
useful to work in with and brigliten up large holi¬ 
day decorations are the Helichrysums. Their 
flowers are the largest, and are so easily raised, that 
with a little fore-thought they can be had in abun¬ 
dance. The species first introduced into our gar¬ 
dens (from Australia) was Helichrysum bracteatum, 
and was populaidy called “ Golden Eternal- 
Flower.” This was before the term “ everlasting” 
was applied to the group of flowers of similar un¬ 
fading character, and before we had any other color 
than the original golden yellow. The name given 
to the genus Helichrysum (from the,Greek words for 
sun and gold), was on account of the rich yellow 
color of the flowers of this species. Since then 
various other species have been discovered, and 
there are now a number of colors besides yellow. 
The original “Golden Eternal-Flower ” tvas be¬ 
tween two and three feet high ; while the flowers 
were brilliant, they were not sufficiently numerous 
to conceal the coarse, weedy appearance of the 
plant itself, which on the whole was not ornamen¬ 
tal in the garden. Of late years cultivators have 
succeeded in obtaining white and other varieties of 
the original, and with the introduction of others, 
and probably by crossing, there are a number of 
garden sorts presenting quite a range of colors and 
shades, including orange, various reds, browns and 
purples, besides some with two col.'vs in the same 
flower. Improvements, quite as important as 
those in color, have been made in the size of the 
flower-heads, and in the stature and habit of the 
plants, so that many of them are desirable plants 
in the border. The engraving represents one of 
the most recent of the imijrovcd varieties of II. 
hracteatum, caHaCi “Dwarf Kose,” introduced by 
Villmorin of Paris. The flowers are numerous and 
large, standing well above the foliage and of a 
color heretofore lacking. Where it is desired to 
have as many flowers as possible to dry for winter, 
the seeds of the Helichrysums should be started 
in a hot-bed or in the house, and the plants set 
out when the weather is settled. The flowers 
(properly heads of flowers), should be gathered 
when they first open, dried in the shade, and 
after they are dry, kept from the dust until 
wanted for use. If it is desired to raise seeds, 
leave a few of the earliest flowers upon a plant or 
two. By removing the flowers as they appear, the 
season of blooming may be prolonged until frost. 
A number of other everlastings are given in the 
seed catalogues. We have growing wild two 
THE “ DWAEE HOSE ” HELICHRYSUM. 
plants, which are known as Everlasting. One of 
these, the Pearly Everlasting (Antennaria Marga- 
ritana) if collected early and carefully dried, pre¬ 
sents the appearance of the French Immortelles. 
The Shape of Vegetables.—The Parsnip. 
All our vegetables of which the root is the edible 
portion are widely different from the same plants 
in their wild state. In the uncultivated beet, pars¬ 
nip or other root, the plant expends its first year 
from the seed in preparing to produce seed again. 
It forms a tuft of leaves and these are engaged 
all the first season in storing up in the root a sup¬ 
ply of sugar, starch and other nutritive matters to 
be expended the next year in a rapid growth of 
flower stalks and flowers, and in the nourishment 
and perfecting of seeds. But our root crop plants 
in the wild state have nothing like such roots as 
are seen in the same planks when cultivated. They 
store up, when uncultivated, only just sufficient 
food to meet the wants of the plant the next year. 
For the use of man this tendency to accumulate 
food in the root has been developed, and the plant 
TURNIP-HOOTED PARSNIP. 
taught, so to speak, to provide an excessive 
amount, to meet our wants in the way of food. In 
doing this the plant has been given richer soil than 
it iiad when wild, and by selecting for seed-bearers 
the roots showing the greatest tendency to en¬ 
largement, we have produced in our cultivated 
plants roots so enlarged that they would not be 
recognized as belonging to the same plant as it ap¬ 
pears when wild. It is important to keep up the 
conditions that have produced the present un¬ 
natural size of roots, and not only to raise seeds 
from plants grown in rich ground, but to select 
roots for seed-bearing that show no tendency to 
degenerate. The two common weeds, the wild 
parsnip and carrot, show the effects of a neglect of 
these precautions, and the reputation of seeds 
raised by certain growers illustrates the importance 
of observing them. But size is not the only 
advance to be achieved and maintained in our 
edible roots. Shape has much to do with their 
value. A few months ago we noticed the great 
improvement within the past few years in the 
shape of carrots sent to market. Instead of a 
long, spindling end, they taper slowly and termi¬ 
nate bluntly. Roots of this kind are more easily 
dug, weigh more to the measured bushel, and are 
more economical in use, whether in the kitchen or 
fed to animals. As a globular form—a sphere— 
contains a greater amount of solid contents than 
any other, the tendency in the improvement of 
various roots is towards this shape. The improved 
ruta-bagas approach a spherical form. Of all the 
roots grown in the garden the parsnip and salsify 
are the most difficult to dig. The parsnip, espe¬ 
cially, tapers very slowly and has a long, tail-like 
root which goes far down into the soil. An im¬ 
provement on the common long parsnip was made 
by Prof. Buckman several years ago. By starting 
with the wild parsnip he produced the variety 
known as “ The Student,” whicli tapers very rap¬ 
idly, The French have for some years had a short 
parsnip called the “Round,” and in English 
catalogues “ Turnip-rooted,” though it is much 
longer than round. Recently the French seed- 
growers have succeeded in reducing the length still 
more, and in producing a root of the shape shown 
in the engraving. This removes the difficulty of 
digging, and is an improvement over former kinds. 
