88 ASPARAGUS 
separated are then thrust deeply into the soft soil, 
pushing the earth outwards. Ifa rising shoot be met 
with on the way down, it is carefully avoided. A 
second plunge of the two fingers and pushing out of 
the earth usually brings them to the hardened ground 
about the crest of the root; the forefinger is then 
slipped behind the base of the shoot fit to gather, and 
pushed gently outward, when the shoot at once snaps 
clean off its base. This plan has the advantage of 
leaving no mutilated shoots or decaying matter on the 
ground. Once gathered, care is taken that the shoot 
is not exposed to the light, but placed at once in a 
covered basket. As soon as the stalk is gathered, the 
earth is gently and loosely drawn up with the hand, so 
as to leave the surface of the mound as it was before, 
not pressing the earth in any way, but keeping it quite 
free. The shoots are not rubbed or cleaned in any 
way—it would disfigure them, and they do not re- 
quire it.”’ 
Knives.—There are several styles of knives for cut- 
ting asparagus, but an ordinary ten-inch butcher- 
knife with the point cut square off, leaving the end 
about an inch and a quarter wide and ground sharp 
like a chisel, answers the purpose as well as any of the 
implements made especially for the purpose. Another 
serviceable tool for cutting asparagus is a carpenter’s 
thin firmer-chisel, one and one-half inches wide, nearly 
flat, and the thinnest that can be obtained ground on 
the convex side or back, about an inch from the end, 
which should be rounded off on the inside to prevent 
them from injuring sprouts near by. Other styles of 
asparagus knives are seen in Fig. 26. 
