GROWTH OF A NEW ENGLAND. 53 



and lazy should see him at work when there is 

 anything to be gained beyond a subsistence 

 wage by industry and quickness. He should 

 visit Evesham at the time when asparagus is 

 being cut, and this takes place in June and 

 continues till Midsummer Day. Then you will 

 see men at work from as early as two and 

 three o'clock in the morning, ceasing only when 

 darkness and sheer fatigue drive them to bed. 

 Cases have been cited, and they are not un- 

 common, I am told, when men have crazily 

 worked themselves into the lunatic asylum. 



For the cultivation of asparagus the land 

 must be thoroughly cleaned before planting 

 the beds, and so the ground is generally 

 occupied with a cleaning crop for the first 

 year, such as beans, followed by winter 

 cabbage. Generally the land is dug with the 

 two-pronged fork so common in this neigh- 

 bourhood, and if the ground is clean enough 

 to plant the asparagus the first year, rows of 

 lettuces or peas are grown between it in the 

 beds. It is not till the third year that aspara- 

 gus is ready to cut, and then, if kept properly 

 cleaned, it will last a dozen years. The crop 

 is worth about £40 an acre. 



Another strenuous time is when plum- 



