1 66 ASPARAGUS 



winter the growers notice the state of the young roots, 

 and any spot in which one has perished they mark 

 with a stick, to replace the plant the following March. 

 Early ever)' spring they pile up a little heap of fine 

 earth over each crown. When the plantation arrives 

 at its third j^ear they increase the size of the mound, 

 or, in other words, a heap of finely pulverized earth is 

 placed over the stool, from which some, but not much, 

 asparagus is cut the same year, taking care to leave the 

 weak plants and those which have replaced others 

 untouched for another j-ear. 



The process of gathering is interesting to the 

 stranger. Asparagus knives of various forms are 

 described in both French and English books, but one 

 is confidently told by the growers that they are only 

 fitted for amateurs who do not care to soil their fingers. 

 The cultivators here never use a knife, the work being 

 done with the hands. Gatherings are made every 

 second day about the end of April, but in May when 

 the growth is more active the stools are gathered from 

 every daj-. 



The French mode of cultivating asparagus differs 

 from the English principally in giving each plant 

 abundant room to develop into a large healthy speci- 

 men, in paying thoughtful attention to the plants at 

 all times, and in planting in trenches instead of a 

 raised bed. They do not, as is done in England, go 

 to great expense in forming a mass of the richest soil 

 far beneath the roots, but rather give it at the surface, 

 and only when the roots have begun to grow strongly. 

 — \V. Robinson, in " Parks and Gardens of Paris." 



