-^ GENDERS AND ASPARAGUS 81 



but not the third. I couldn't pull up beautiful, healthy 

 seedlings. Moreover, according to the experts, again, 

 seven-eighths of the seedlings are worthless, the other 

 fraction being recognizable by the straightness and 

 height of the plants. This was an eagerly seized excuse 

 for putting off the evil day of thinning out. No inex- 

 perienced grower realizes what is ahead of him. End- 

 less hours I crawled along the rows, trying to decide 

 which thirty or forty were to be saved out of those 

 250-odd babies, which all looked alike to me. This 

 gave the wee green things another respite, but finally 

 the day of uprooting came. The ground was strewn 

 with feathery green, in spite of the passionate intensity 

 which each little asparagus had developed in clinging 

 to its job. If I had only known then what the next 

 year's tragedy would be, and the next after that! With 

 intense pride I regarded each enlarging clump; I felt 

 that no one else had ever grown such asparagus in one 

 season. 



The second summer I began to have suspicions. The 

 dark-green feathery plants were a joy to look at and a 

 picture of dazzling beauty when covered with rain or 

 dew, but the clumps were amazing in size, too amazing. 

 I began to dig cautiously, then recklessly. Enormous 

 roots were torn off ruthlessly. My worst fears were 

 confirmed. My seedlings were busy strangling one 

 another. All the finest seemed to grow right together, 

 which meant endless sacrifices. How easy the tearing 

 out of the small seedlings now appeared ! To wrench out 

 those splendid great plants was dreadful. 



The following year it was worse. Most of my plants 

 showed too many stalks of too many sizes, which meant 

 interlocked crowns. Nearly all had to come up and be 

 replanted. If I had only sent to a grower for plants how 

 happy I should be, and yet — no, I should never have the 

 personal affection for any professional asparagus plants 



