THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



under the soil, and so save the digestion of myself 

 and family. 



Without a good asparagus bed a country home 

 is hopelessly deficient. From experience I have 

 come to believe that the very best sort is the Ar- 

 genteuil, a French variety of extraordinary tender- 

 ness and great size of stalk. I have often cut it 

 eight and ten inches in length, and tender clear to 

 the bottom. Yet the Palmetto and Conover's Co- 

 lossal and Moore's Crossbred, and Columbian 

 Mammoth White are all of exceedingly good qual- 

 ity. The best method of securing good plants is to 

 sow seed late in the fall, or early in the spring, in 

 boxes, or in a spent hotbed, or in the open ground, 

 in drills about one foot apart ; cover the seed about 

 one inch, and leave the plants growing about three 

 inches apart in the row; transplant when two or 

 three years old. I am not certain from personal 

 experience, although I strongly suspect, that we 

 shall do much better with this delicious vegetable 

 if we sow where the plants are to remain, thinning 

 out to about one foot apart. In this case I would 

 sow the seed a little deeper, and in somewhat hol- 

 lowed drills. Then, as the plants grow, I would 

 fill up the hollowed drill, and even mound slightly, 



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