PERENNIAL VEGETABLES 



oughly pulverized and well-manured ground. The 

 plants must be kept entirely free from weeds, and 

 to achieve this it will be necessary to do consider- 

 able hand work, pulling out the weeds from be- 

 tween the plants and loosening up the soil with the 

 fingers. The young asparagus plants* are very 

 slender and fragile, and thus close culture and 

 weeding is essential. As soon as the plants are a few 

 inches high, they should be thinned out to stand 

 six inches apart, and from that on be cultivated 

 sufficiently to keep the soil mellow and entirely 

 free from weeds. 



The second spring the young plants may be 

 transplanted into permanent beds, which should be 

 so located as not to be in the way of the cultivation 

 of other parts of the garden. It will be found that 

 setting the rows far enough apart to cultivate be- 

 tween will greatly advance the culture and lessen 

 the care. 



The ground for the permanent beds should be 

 very rich or specially prepared. The rows should, 

 if they are to be cultivated by the hand-cultivator, 

 be not less than eighteen inches apart and the plants 

 set a foot apart in the rows; this will enable the 

 gardener to cultivate each way of the plants and 



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