42 Southern Gardener^ s Practical Mamial 



tubers may be planted whole or cut, as is practiced with 

 Irish potatoes. A rich, sandy loam, deeply prepared and 

 free from stone or pebble, is best suited to this crop. 

 They should be planted in rows in a low bed, as with 

 potatoes, covering the tubers three inches. The plants 

 should stand eighteen inches apart in the row, and the 

 rows four feet apart. Cultivate shallow, as for cotton, 

 but retaining the beds. A peculiarity of this plant is 

 the fact that the tubers continue to grow after the plant 

 above ground has died. In the vicinity of Clemson Col- 

 lege, S. C, the tubers are not fully grown and matured 

 until the last of November. While this plant will 

 produce paying crops under neglectful treatment, it re- 

 sponds most liberally to high feeding and thorough cul- 

 tivation. 



It may be boiled and used as potatoes, as a cold salad, 

 and is highly esteemed for pickle. The tubers keep 

 better in the ground than stored. Besides being desir- 

 able as a garden esculent, there is no other crop which 

 will produce so cheaply or so abundantly a hog food 

 which need not be harvested. They are utilized by 

 giving the hogs the run of the field through the winter. 



ASPARAGUS 



Supposed to be a native of southern Europe, and was 

 cultivated by the Romans 150 j^ears before Christ. Con- 

 over's Colossal, Palmetto, Barr's Mammoth and Colum- 

 bian Mammoth are offered in the seedsmen's catalogues. 

 These are, no doubt, of the same origin, but varied 

 climatic and cultural conditions are responsible for their 



