to this sand, springs of water immediately rise 
above the surface, and are carried off by natural 
channels. By this supply of water, the value of 
the land has been materially increased, since the 
country, though abounding in peat-bogs and 
stagnant ponds during winter, suffers much from 
the summer drought. The district of opposite 
character, in which all attempts to form artesian 
wells are failures, is that near Lincoln, which, 
| though surrounded by fens covered with water in 
the winter, is not sufficiently supplied during the 
summer. But the clays supporting the fens of 
the Bedford Level are below the chalk; and 
though there are pervious beds beneath them, 
which rise to the north-west, yet the clays are of 
such enormous thickness that they have never’ 
been penetrated; and even were that accom- 
_ plished, the high land is so distant that inter- 
a 
. known as a garden plant. 
| Madeira species, Cynara horrida, was introduced 
| from Madeira in 1778, is a tender herbaceous 
| vening fissures, filled up with impervious materi- 
| als, might intercept the supply. Expensive sink- 
ings have been made at Lynn, and also at Boston ; 
but, after boring through many hundred feet of 
_ clay, they have utterly failed; and, in any future 
_ operations in this district, the chance of success 
_ would be very remote.” —[Hdinburgh Philosophi- 
cal Journal. | 
ARTICHOKE,—botanically Cynara. A genus 
_ of perennial herbaceous plants, of the thistle divi- 
_ sion of the composite family. Seven species have 
been introduced to Great Britain; and three 
other species are known to botanists. The gar- 
den species, Cynara scolymus, was introduced to 
Great Britain from the south of Europe, and is 
everywhere known in Great Britain as a garden 
esculent. The cardoon, Cynara cardunculus, was 
introduced from Canada in 1658; and is also well 
See Carpoon. The 
evergreen, grows to the height of six feet, and 
flowers in August and September. The Cape spe- 
cies, Cynara glomerata, is also a tender herbace- 
ous evergreen, was introduced from the Cape of 
Good Hope in 1816, grows to the height of two 
feet, and flowers in July and August. The dwarf 
| species, Cynara humilis, was introduced from 
| Spain in 1613, grows to the height of 18 inches, 
and flowers in July and August. 
|, and the pigmy species, acaulis and pygmea, grow 
The stemless 
to the height of one foot, flower in July, and are 
natives of respectively Barbary and Spain. 
The garden artichoke was cultivated by the 
ancients, for the sake of both its root and its 
fructification. Artichokes are stated by Pliny to 
have been preserved in vinegar and in honey, 
seasoned with the root of laserwort and cumin, 
| and so made fit for use at any season of the year. 
Not only did the ancients eat the root and the 
flower of the plant, but they expressed the juice 
previous to the time of blossoming, and used it 
ior the attempted restoration of the hair on bald 
parts of the human head. The artichoke seems 
to have been procured by the Greeks and the 
ARTICHOKE. 
249 
Romans from Sicily and from the neighbourhood 
of Carthage; but during the middle ages, it ap- 
pears to have gone out of cultivation; and, in 
modern times, it is said to have been first seen 
in the Venice gardens, in 1473, being then very 
scarce, and having but a few years previously 
become an object of cultivation in other parts of. 
Italy. In the beginning of the 16th century it 
was introduced into France, and in 1548 into 
Great Britain ; and after it began to be cultivated 
in our gardens, it improved so much in size and 
flavour that the Italians sent to this country for | 
plants. 
The artichoke is so closely allied to the thistle 
in general appearance, as well as in its botanical 
characters, as to be rather a repugnant looking 
esculent to persons who have never used it. It 
grows to the height of 8 feet, has undivided and 
somewhat spiny pinnate leaves, and produces a 
bluish-purple coloured flower in August and Sep- 
tember. Its order of flowering is imbricated : its 
flower is contained in a dense close head; and its 
seeds are surmounted by a feathery down or pap- 
pus. The head containing the flower and its 
bristly appendages is the only part of the plant 
eaten in England; and this consists of a fleshy 
receptacle, and of an alternating series of scaly 
bracteas or floral leaves, which are furnished with 
a pulpy substance at and above their point of 
union with the base. 
ties of the plant,—the globe and the French. 
The globe variety has broad, brown, inward-turned 
scales; and its fleshy receptacle, the most valu- 
able part for use, is comparatively very thick. | 
The stalks of the French variety are generally 
taller than those of the globe variety; the heads 
are smaller in size, and more conical in shape; 
the scales are narrower and greener, and turn 
outward; and the fleshy receptacle is compara- 
tively thin, and has a disagreeable perfumed. 
flavour. The French variety has, in peculiar 
But there are two varie- | 
= Sama aa eee e Ta) 
emergencies, been pretty extensively cultivated ; 
but the globe variety is in far more general 
esteem, and possesses a much superior degree of 
intrinsic value. 
dwarfish and very prolific. 
The artichoke delights in a rich light soil, and 
will find itself well accommodated in a thoroughly 
pulverized sandy sward, such as may be pared 
from ordinary sheep pasture-land with a sandy | 
soil. Suckers or offsets taken from old plants 
ought to be planted in March or April, either in | 
a bed of three rows, four or five feet asunder, orin | 
single rows between other vegetables. The soil 
ought to be previously laid quite smooth or level ; 
and the planting-line being drawn very tight, 
each sucker or offset ought to be planted with 
the dibble or garden trowel, and fixed securely 
in the soil. The firm fixation of the base and 
lower parts of the sucker in recently moved 
ground, stimulates the vital principle of the 
sucker, occasions it to be acted upon by the 
electro-gaseous products of the soil in the very 
A subvariety of the globe is | 
area 
