A Year's Work in the Vegetable Garden 



for if they meet with any serious check they will scarcely recover 

 during the whole of the season. 



Asparagus in seed-beds to be thinned as soon as possible, so 

 that wherever two or three plants rise together, the number should be 

 reduced to one. But there is time yet for seedlings to appear. The 

 bearing beds are more attractive, for they show their toothsome tops, 

 and to fill a basket with them while the grass is wet with dew is 

 a task for an artist as much as for a market-woman who never heard 

 of aesthetics. The cutting must be done in a systematic manner, 

 and if practicable always by the same person. It is better to cut all 

 the shoots as fast as they attain a proper size, and sort them for 

 use according to quality, rather than to pick and choose the fat 

 shoots and throw the whole plantation into disorder. Green-topped 

 Asparagus is in favour in this country ; but those who prefer it 

 blanched have simply to earth it up sufficiently, and cut below the 

 surface, taking care to avoid injuring the young shoots which have 

 not pushed through. It is not for us to decide on any matter of 

 individual taste, but we will give a word of practical advice that may 

 be of value to many. It is not the custom to protect Asparagus in 

 open beds, but it should be ; for the keen frosts that often occur when 

 the sticks are rising destroy a large number. This may be prevented 

 by covering with any kind of light, dry litter, which will not in the 

 least interfere with that full greening of the tops which English people 

 generally prefer, because the light and air will reach the plant ; but 

 the edge of the frost will be blunted by the litter. If there is nothing 

 at hand for this purpose, let a man go round with the sickle and 

 cut a lot of long grass from the rough parts of the shrubbery, and put 

 a light handful over every crown in the bed. The sticks will rise with 

 the litter upon them like nightcaps, and will be plump and green 

 and unhurt by frost. 



Beans may be sown for a late crop, but on hot soils they are not 

 likely to pay. It is customary to top beans when in flower, and the 

 practice has its advantages. In case the black fly takes possession, 

 topping is a necessity, for the insect can only subsist on the youngest 

 leaves at the top of the plant, and the process pretty well clears them 

 away. 



Beans, Kidney, of all kinds to be sown in quantity. Where 

 appearances are important, sow a mixture of several sorts of Runners, 

 and train them to form a bower. Dwarf Kidney Beans are but 

 seldom allowed as much space as they require, and the rows, there- 

 fore, should be thinned early ; for crowded plants never bear so well 



172 



