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root well, let the ground occasionally be loosened round them, 

 and the stalks well earthed up. The best means of preserving 

 the plants from being destroyed by the fly, is to cover the leaves 

 well over with ashes from the kitchen, or to sprinkle them with 

 tobacco water. The seed from Europe, the Cape, Persia, and 

 Hindoostan, all grow well, but those which have succeeded best 

 with me were from the upper provinces of Bengal : they were of 

 the large globular kind, and from being acclimatised, I thought 

 they did not suffer so much from the fly as others. More than 

 one head should not be allowed on each stalk : pick all the 

 others off. If a piece of stick is run through the stalk, a cross 

 under each head, I think that it tends to enlarge it. The seed 

 may be collected whenever ripe, which is mostly in May or 

 June. The largest and finest heads do not always give the most 

 seed often the reverse. Young artichoke shoots if blanched 

 may be eaten as salad, 



ASPARAGUS. The species are many, but only one is cultivated 

 for use. The roots of the wild species, "Asparagus Sarmentosa," 

 are made into a preserve and also candied by the Chinese. The 

 method of first raising the plants from seed, is either by sowing 

 broad-cast, in beds of six feet square, or in long beds of about 

 two feet broad, where they are to remain. If sown in square 

 beds, when the grass is about six or ten inches high, and begins 

 to bear small flowers, it may then be transplanted, and must be 

 carefully taken up with a sufficiency of earth attached to the 

 roots, and planted in trenches at least six inches deep and 

 eighteen broad. Between each trench should be a space of one 

 foot or more. The plants may then be laid down in double rows 

 in the trench prepared at six or eight inches asunder perhaps 

 a greater distance may be better. The roots must be carefully 

 covered, and well watered. The beds cannot be of too rich and 

 light a soil, and must be kept clear of weeds, and watered as 

 occasion requires. When the asparagus is sufficiently strong to 

 commence working the beds after the stalks have gone to seed, 

 the watering should be discontinued, and the stalks allowed to 

 dry and wither; then uncover carefully the roots, being can- 

 tious not injure the crowns, cut or twist off the stalks, and cover 



