PERENNIAL VEGETABLES 



them. A position back of a furnace offers a favour- 

 able position, as it is usually out of the way, warm, 

 and not too light. Here, on the cement bottom of 

 the cellar, a bed of rough boards or a big shallow 

 box, adapted to the purpose, may be prepared, and 

 the roots, which must be lifted before the ground 

 freezes, but left outside to freeze, covered with 

 loose earth until some time in November or De- 

 cember, when they are set closely together therein. 

 Sufficient earth should be added to cover the crowns 

 of the plants, and this may be well enriched with 

 manure. It should be kept moist, for it will be re- 

 membered that the asparagus is a plant of the 

 spring, when the earth teems with moisture. If the 

 cellar is at all light, it will be necessary to cover 

 the beds with a frame of wood, covered with can- 

 vas, old carpet, or anything convenient, or even 

 a heavy mulching of straw. This is not actually 

 necessary after growth has begun and the shoots 

 are breaking ground. Additional heat may be pro- 

 vided by placing a lantern under the frame and 

 covering the beds with a piece of old carpet, but 

 this must not be retained long enough to engender 

 mould or mustiness. 



[211] 



