88 ASPARAGUS 



separated are then thrust deeply into the soft soil, 

 pushing the earth outwards. If a rising shoot be met 

 with on the way down, it is carefully avoided. A 

 second plunge of the two fingers and pushing out of 

 the earth usually brings them to the hardened ground 

 about the crest of the root ; the forefinger is then 

 slipped behind the base of the shoot fit to gather, and 

 pushed gently outward, when the shoot at once snaps 

 clean off its base. This plan has the advantage of 

 leaving no mutilated shoots or decaying matter on the 

 ground. Once gathered, care is taken that the shoot 

 is not exposed to the light, but placed at once in a 

 covered basket. As soon as the stalk is gathered, the 

 earth is gently and loosely drawn up wnth the hand, so 

 as to leave the surface of the mound as it was before, 

 not pressing the earth in any waj^, but keeping it quite 

 free. The shoots are not rubbed or cleaned in any 

 way — it w'ould disfigure them, and they do not re- 

 quire it." 



Knives. — There are several styles of knives for cut- 

 ting asparagus, but an ordinary ten-inch butcher- 

 knife with the point cut square off, leaving the end 

 about an inch and a quarter wide and ground sharp 

 like a chisel, answers the purpose as well as any of the 

 implements made especially for the purpose. Another 

 serviceable tool for cutting asparagus is a carpenter's 

 thin firmer-chisel, one and one-half inches wide, nearly 

 flat, and the thinnest that can be obtained ground on 

 the convex side or back, about an inch from the end, 

 which should be rounded off on the inside to prevent 

 them from injuring sprouts near by. Other styles of 

 asparagus knives are seen in Fig. 26. 



