This vegetable is commonly known as the Chinese Artichoke, and from the peculiar form it is also called Spirals. A wide difference of opinion exists as to its value, but in its favour the fact may be stated that tubers are often exhibited in the finest collections of vegetables staged for competition.
The time for planting is early spring, in rows eighteen inches apart, allowing a distance of nine inches in the rows. The proper depth is four inches. The roots are quite hardy and the crop gives no trouble. After planting it is only necessary to keep the plot free from weeds.
The tubers do not mature until late in autumn, and as far as possible it is advisable to lift them when they are wanted. Should it be necessary for any reason to clear the ground, the Stachys must be covered with soil. When exposed to light and air they soon become discoloured and are then unfit for cooking. It is usual to boil them in the same manner as Potatoes, but the finish must be by steam alone. An agreeable variation consists in frying the boiled roots with butter until slightly brown, when the dish is considered by many connoisseurs to be very delicious and suitable for serving with poultry or joint.
STRAWBERRY
Fragaria
Probably the first thought will be that the Strawberry is a fruit, and that the consideration of its treatment is out of place in a series of articles on the culture of vegetables. The answer is that the plant forms an essential feature in every good Kitchen Garden, and the general routine of work has to be arranged with due regard to this crop, so that we need make no apology for alluding to it here.
When to Plant.—The Strawberry is the most certain of all our hardy fruits, and is much valued both for eating fresh as a summer luxury and as a preserve for winter use. Although it deserves the best of cultivation, its demands are few, for under the poorest system of management it is often extremely prolific, and not unseldom the most profitable crop in the garden. We have choice of seeds, divisions, and runners in making a plantation of Strawberries. The universal way is the best way, and it consists in planting rooted runners of named sorts in an open sunny spot in well-prepared ground any time during spring or autumn, when fresh and good runners are obtainable; but late planting is undesirable, for when the plants have not time to establish themselves before winter sets in many are lost. If, therefore, the planting cannot be accomplished at the latest by the beginning of October, it is better to defer the task until the spring. Plants put in at the latter time should have the flower-stems removed, and will then yield a heavy crop in the succeeding season.
Treatment of Soil.—The best soil for Strawberries is a rich, moist, sandy loam, but a heavy soil will answer perfectly if it is well prepared. The ground should be trenched and liberally enriched with rotten manure placed between the top and bottom spits, where the plants will reach it when they are most in need. In a new soil that is rather stiff it will be advisable, when the trenching has been completed, to put down the line and cut shallow trenches, which should be filled with any rather fine kindly stuff that may be at hand, such as old hot-bed soil, leaf-mould, or a mixture of material turned out of pots, with some good decayed manure. In this the young plants will root freely and quickly without becoming gross, for they should attain a certain degree of vigour; but an excessive leaf growth may result in losses during winter, and a small crop of fruit in the following year. Well-cultivated soils need no such special preparation, but in any case a good digging and a liberal manuring are absolutely necessary. And here it may be well to state that after the plants have obtained a firm hold on the soil it matters not how hard the ground becomes. The practice of some growers in running a plough lightly between the rows either for a mulch, or to give the plants the full benefit of rain, does not in the least degree upset this conclusion, for this only creates a loose and friable surface, and the operation is so managed that the soil near the roots remains undisturbed. It may be accepted as a secret of successful Strawberry culture that the bed should be firm and compact, and, in forcing, this principle is so far recognised that the soil is positively rammed into the pots.
Method of Planting.—If Strawberry plants come to hand somewhat dry, unpack them quickly, and spread them in small lots in a cool shady place, and sprinkle lightly with water to refresh them. A deluge of water is not needed, and in fact will do harm, but enough to moisten them will put them in a condition to begin growing as soon as they are properly located. In planting, a little extra care in the disposition of the roots in the soil will be well repaid, for plants merely thrust into the ground cannot develop that robust root growth on which the future of the crop largely depends. When preparing the positions it is an excellent plan to build in the centre of each excavation a mound of earth over which to spread the fibrous roots. Then return the soil and firmly tread down. As a finish give each plant a copious watering. On no account should the plant be deeply buried, but the crown should be left just clear of the surface level. The distances in planting will have to be determined by the relative vigour of the varieties and the nature of the ground. As a rule the rows should be two feet apart, and the plants eighteen inches in the rows, but some varieties require fully two and a half feet between the rows. It is good practice to leave a three-feet space between every two rows for necessary traffic. A modification of the plan consists in planting a foot apart each way; and immediately the first crop of fruit is off every alternate row is removed, and then every alternate plant in each row is also taken out. This places the remainder at two feet every way. The ground is then lightly forked and a heavy coat of manure put on.
The general management comprises keeping down weeds, supplying water abundantly in dry weather, especially when the berries are swelling, and removing runners as fast as they appear, for to allow them to get ahead is most injurious, and any serious neglect of this rule is likely to ruin the plantation. The Strawberry plant makes no proper return on a dry lumpy soil. Large plantations that cannot be watered must be aided in the height of the season by covering the ground with any light material which will prevent evaporation. As to obtaining runners, that is easy enough, but there is a good way and a bad way. To allow them to spread and root promiscuously is the bad way; it injures the plants, makes the bed disorderly, and does not produce good runners. At the time when runners begin to push, dig and manure the surrounding spaces, and allow a certain number of runners to come out from each side of the rows. As they approach maturity and are disposed to make roots, lay tiles or stones upon the runners near to the young plants to favour the process, but a neater way will be to peg them down. Or they may be fixed by short pegs in small pots, filled with light rich earth and plunged in the soil.