ASPARAGUS. 55 



excess of that number should be removed. In winter, 

 when the frost sets in, the plants should each receive a 

 covering five or six inches thick, of leaves, sea-weed, or 

 long manure, to protect them from frost. If there is any 

 probability of water lodging on the bed during winter, 

 then drains of a foot or more in depth should be dug about 

 two feet from the rows, so as to carry off the water, for, by 

 lodging on the plants, it will cause the crowns to rot. 



When grown for chard the leaves and flower stalks 

 should be cut off in Juno or early in July, within six inches 

 of the ground. In September or October, when the new 

 leaves are about two feet long, they should be somewhat 

 loosely tied together and wound with hay or straw bands 

 to blanch them, adding some litter at the bottom to assist 

 the process ; or they may be earthed up in the same way as 

 celery. In about six weeks they will be ready for use. 

 This blanching process should only be done with old beds 

 about to be broken up, as it destroys the plants for bloom- 

 ing. When it is intended to use the heads for pickling 

 they should be cut when about two inches in diameter. 

 When they are to be used as salad, cut them when they 

 have nearly attained their full size, but before the scales 

 of the calyx begin to open or spread. When the recepta- 

 cles or bottoms are to be used for stewing or frying, the 

 heads should be cut just as the scales begin to spread or 

 open. If they are allowed to remain until the flower 

 proper begins to show itself, they become unfit for use. 



ASPARAGUS. 



This plant will succeed in any rich, deep, dry and porous 

 soil, through which water can readily drain away j but it 

 does not succeed well in heavy, close soils deficient in under 



