LECT. vi PLANTING VEGETABLES AND FRUITS 87 



other. The plants so thinned out, with those in the 

 rows entirely removed, may be successfully trans- 

 planted in April, or later, when fresh growths are 

 springing from the crowns, taking care the roots are 

 kept damp when out of the ground. 



With the soil in a friable condition, not too wet, and 

 a watering given to settle it round the roots, all the 

 plants will grow, but if the planting is done in winter, 

 or if the roots become much dried by exposure to the 

 air in spring, most of them will die. 



In some French gardens half-a-dozen good seeds are 

 sown two inches apart, in clumps, here and there, in 

 vacant spaces in borders or between fruit bushes, and 

 one or two of the plants allowed to grow into bearing. 

 Thousands of pounds are spent in this country every 

 year on French asparagus, yet the plant is a native 

 of our own country. In Cambridgeshire and Essex 

 large breadths are profitably grown by farmers and 

 allotment holders. 



A gardener who grows produce for sale has found 

 asparagus one of his most profitable crops. The 

 heads washed, and tied twenty- five to thirty in a 

 bunch, sold readily to greengrocers at 4s. per dozen 

 bunches. At this moderate price they realized at 

 the rate of ,50 an acre ; and he observes that a man 

 or woman can easily carry one pound's worth to 

 market, while a horse and cart would be needed for 

 an equal value of potatoes, cabbage, and many other 

 vegetables. The beds are dressed in the autumn, 

 after the stems are cut down, with ashes resulting 

 from the burning of sticks, weeds, and other refuse. 

 Manure, unless much decayed and well pulverized, is 

 apt to make many shoots crooked and useless for 

 selling. 



Asparagus will not thrive in poor, dry, sandy land, 

 nor in strong, wet, clayey, or cold adhesive soils. In 



