166 ASPARAGUS 
winter the growers notice the state of the young roots, 
and any spot in which one has perished they mark 
with a stick, to replace the plant the following March. 
Early every spring they pile up a little heap of fine 
earth over each crown. When the plantation arrives 
at its third year they increase the size of the mound, 
or, in other words, a heap of finely pulverized earth is 
placed over the stool, from which some, but not much, 
asparagus is cut the same year, taking care to leave the 
weak plants and those which have replaced others 
untouched for another year. 
The process of gathering is interesting to the 
stranger. Asparagus knives of various forms are 
described in both French and English books, but one 
is confidently told by the growers that they are only 
fitted for amateurs who do not care to soil their fingers. 
The cultivators here never use a knife, the work being 
done with the hands. Gatherings are made every 
second day about the end of April, but in May when 
the growth is more active the stools are gathered from 
every day. 
The French mode of cultivating asparagus differs 
from the English principally in giving each plant 
abundant room to develop into a large healthy speci- 
men, in paying thoughtful attention to the plants at 
all times, and in planting in trenches instead of a 
raised bed. ‘They do not, as is done in England, go 
to great expense in forming a mass of the richest soil 
far beneath the roots, but rather give it at the surface, 
and only when the roots have begun to grow strongly 
—W. ROBINSON, in ‘‘ Parks and Gardens of Paris.’’ 
