GOOSEFOOT, PERENNIAL 131 



GOOSEFOOT, PERENNIAL, or Good King Henry, 

 or Mercury (Chenopodium Bonus Henricus), is a peren- 

 nial plant popular in parts of England, as a substitute 

 for and rival of asparagus as an early vegetable. In 

 France the leaves are eaten like spinach; in England 

 the shoots are cut like asparagus or sea-kale. 



Soil should be rich and deep. Manure freely for 

 best results; work compost into the hills. 



Sow in seed-bed when the ground is warm, drills 

 apart as convenient. 



Depth. About one inch. 



Thin or prick out to six by six or six by twelve 

 inches. 



Set out the plants when a foot high, or in the 

 second spring, to eighteen inches apart each way, four 

 inches deep. 



Culture should be clean; mulch with manure in the 

 fall. 



Fertilize each spring with a good general fertilizer; 

 after the cutting season, with nitrate of soda or liquid 

 manure. 



Cut or pick when the plants are well established in 

 their permanent positions; shoots are best not cut 

 until the third spring. Pick the young leaves as 

 wanted, lightly in the second year. Cut the shoots 

 from their first appearance in spring for a month or 

 five weeks; cut underground, as with asparagus. Do 

 not exhaust the plants, and allow them to recuperate 



